Flat tires

Thank God for Flat tires

Yesterday as I got into my truck to take a drive up into the mountains and get some wood, It made a sound that was unfamiliar to me, and then there was nothing. In this case, silence was not golden. I called my friend and asked him to come and take a look at my truck. He was unable to help me. Why me? I thought.  ...  Oh yeah, the blizzard experience...

I have been able to navigate my life by watching the road signs along the way and wondered if there was a message for me in my broken truck. I had done my part, I have done the regular maintenance since I have had my truck and we have been many places in the 10 years that I have partnered with my truck. 

I was reminded of trip that I took many years ago down highway 40, between Kansas and Arizona. It was a cold and blustery day and the snow was falling. The road plows were out and there were some semi trucks off the road. I stopped at a rest stop and took a break. I noticed there was a man with a sign at the restroom asking for money to help him get to California. I looked at him when I went in and again when I left. When I got back to the car, my wife said, Did you see that man at the restroom? I said I had. She said, we need to give him some money to help him out.  ... Now, here is the thing, my wife was more sympathetic to helping a stranger than I was, but I had learned years earlier that it was useless to argue with her when she felt strongly about something. She was usually right. She announced that we were supposed to give him 50 dollars. I rolled my eyes and said, OK. She took the money and gave it to him. I watched as he thanked her, took his sign and put it in his pocket and went to his truck. It was a new full size truck. I wondered at this situation but waited for my wife to return. When she got back into the car she was crying. I asked her why? She said, we are supposed to give him another 50 dollars. “I was afraid to ask you before, for 100 dollars, but now we are supposed to give him more.” I said, have you seen his new truck? She said she had, but that it didn’t matter, we were supposed to give him more. I sighed and gave her 50 dollars. She took it over to the truck and gave it to him. When she got back, she was smiling and I knew I was safe from any further withdrawals from my wallet. She told me that he said he “didn’t need the extra 50 dollars and would be fine,” but she told him, God must really love you, because he wants you to have this money and I am just following my instructions from him. He accepted and drove away. As I started my car and headed back out on to the freeway there was a sweet feeling in the car. I could feel it, and knew that we were so blessed in our lives. About 50 miles down the road, the blizzard was worse, and I was grateful that our little car with its front wheel drive was so stable and safe. Just then, at that moment, I heard a loud bang, and then the flap, flap, flap of a flat tire. What? I exclaimed. I pulled over and got out to check out the problem. Yep. Flat tire. Middle of a blizzard, out in middle of nowhere, and I had a flat tire. I unloaded our overloaded car trunk, placed everything on the side of the road and dug out the tire. No, it wasn’t flat. I replaced the tire and loaded the car again. As I headed out into the storm, the radio announced that the freeway was closed ahead and that it was impossible to drive beyond Amarillo, Texas. We drove the additional miles and pulled into a motel and prepared to spend the night. Thankful to be safe. As we were settling in, I asked, why? Why had this happened to us? As we sat there wondering, the answer came, it was a sweet and peaceful feeling and both of us could feel it. “You asked to be blessed on your journey before you left today and I have been with you the entire way. Through you, I was able to bless the life of that man at the rest stop. He really didn’t have any money. The truck was borrowed and he needed to get to his family. The freeway is now closed and with that additional money you gave him, he is able to not only buy gas, but has enough to get a motel and spend the night in comfort before traveling on to his family. If you hadn’t been delayed by the flat tire, you would have been stuck on the freeway in the snowstorm.”  As we both felt the impact of this upon us, we cried. We both gave thanks for the way in which we were able to help someone, blessing his life and delaying our own journey just long enough to find safety for the night.

Today I called the local mechanic, I explained the situation and asked him to come and get my truck and repair it. I try to look for the lessons in events that unfold in my life. I don’t always know why things happen to me, especially when I have done my part. This I do know, we have angels looking over us. We may not see the danger ahead, but they do. When we listen and heed those warnings, our lives are made better. 

Sometimes we given the opportunity to be angels in training, to help others along the road of life. How sweet life can when we listen to those inner promptings, not only blessing our own lives, but the lives of other fellow travelers.  God really does love us, and he will bless us and others through us if we listen and watch the signs...