Chapter 40: Jack Rabbits in Odessa and Brakes and Thanksgiving

It took me about a week to catch up in my checking account after getting my engine block clamp fixed. I was still struggling to pay the $3500 a month in bills I had accrued from the Ford Focus, back in 2023. I couldn't move on to another city until I had some money put back, but the money was good there, better than anywhere else I'd been, so I stayed, happily.

I let God guide me through my circumstances. Every Uber ride request was guidance from God: "This person needs a ride." "That person needs some advice." "This person needs to hear your story."

Every ping was a message from God for me to take action, and after every trip, God rewarded me through the Uber app for my efforts. I praised God that He allowed me to do so, and prayed against every attack from Satan that came my way in the form of car problems and bills. God provided me with what I needed to keep going, and most of the time it was at the end of my rope, JUST IN TIME.

I drove around in the Midland and Odessa areas praying constantly.

In the Odessa area, I began to notice a lot of Jack rabbit statues. I did some research on Google and found that Odessa used to be a rodeo town, much like Amarillo. The main feature in their rodeos were the jack rabbit lassoing contests. The original jack rabbit statue was placed at the Odessa College by John Ben Shepperd, who also has a street named after him in Odessa. He used to be the Secretary of State in Texas and the Lietenant Governor in the early 50s, and he was apparently from Odessa.

After John Ben Shepperd died, the town commemorated his memory by having 50 jackrabbit statues made, and gave them to businesses to paint any way they wanted to. Only 37 of them are still sitting outside of these businesses. Some businesses opted to donate their statue to the Odessa art museum.

I decided to embark on a scavenger hunt of sorts. Everytime I came across a statue, I took a photo and posted it on Facebook.

These are only a few of the pictures I took.

After about a week of driving around, my brakes started to make a bunch of noise. So, I took them to get fixed.

It turns out that I needed a whole new brake system, but I couldn't afford the whole thing, so they fixed the most necessary parts and charged me another $582 for the repairs. I was behind again, and overdrawn. And, I needed money quick, because I had a big bill due.

So, I drove eight hours back to Texarkana to re-borrow money and refinance one of my loans I was already paying on, so I could get caught up. Then, I made my way back to the Midland and Odessa area.

I saw the DK oil refinery in Big Spring along the way.

When I got back to Midland and Odessa, it was close to Thanksgiving.

I sat in a Burger King one morning, eating breakfast, wondering how I was going to celebrate my Thanksgiving holiday. I no money, and no family around me, and I didn't know anyone in the area. I was searching online to find out where the homeless shelters were and were they having a dinner for the holiday?

As I sat there eating, a lady came to my table and said, "God told me to ask you if you wanted to join us for Thanksgiving at our church this Sunday." It was as if God was right there, answering my questions.

I gladly accepted her invitation, and invited her to hear my story.

She became a Facebook friend.

Once again, I knew that I was on a mission from God, and He was with me, every step of the way!