Yesterday we spent most of our day hanging out with our kids, coloring, building a haunted tree house, went to a Halloween party and had a great day! To top off our great day my parents planned on keeping both of our kids for a sleep over...so you know what that means...date night! A date night for a young family with 2 small children who live on a tight income is generally far & few between. So, we were looking forward to some dinner and then I was being wild and was even going to let Bill treat me to a movie. I like to be a cheap date so normally we pick between the two. And let's be honest if the movie starts too late I usually fall asleep during it...I can sleep anywhere!
We made it a couple miles down the road when Bill noticed something was wrong with my car. We were in a left hand turn lane at the intersection of Midkiff & Wadley. Any Midlander knows that is a busy intersection! So, we got the green arrow to make our left hand turn except that we couldn't turn...we had no steering in our car! So, we just went straight and thankfully our car drifted to the right. Thankfully, since it was an arrow no one in the other lanes to the right of us were going...they still had the red light. So, we just kept going straight and we made it to the curb and stopped. We both jumped out of the car and we noticed this...
a big metal bar broke off our car. Our car was broken! No steering! Our whole back end of our car was hanging in the road so cars had to keep going around us. We felt awful. I quickly made a call to my dad for help so we could push it into the parking lot and get out of the road so we could think clearer and come up with a game plan. In the meantime this gentleman pulled into the parking lot in his Lincoln Town Car and asked us if he could help us out. I stood there kind of puzzled by his alligator boots, his dark wash, starched wranglers, his short-sleeved button up shirt and nicely combed hair. Seriously? This guy is going to help us push our car out of the road? He looked to fancy to get dirty. He started to kneel on the ground, look under our car and inform us that our steering tie rod busted.
Bill & Mr. Martin instructed me to get in the car and push on the breaks once they get the car over the curb. In about tears I hesitantly got into the powerless car and did just that. We were up over the curb, out of the way and safely in the parking lot. It all was happening so quickly. Before I knew it I was standing along by the side of my car and Bill & Mr. Martin were off in the Lincoln to go to the auto parts store to get what we needed. After an unsuccessful attempt they came back to the car and instructed me to go home. My dad took my back to the party and Bill was once again leaving with this stranger to go get the part for my car. Seriously? A stranger? Don't we teach our kids not to talk to stranger but it's okay for our husbands to ride with them.
I went back to the party and eventually dropped off at home and Bill & Mr. Martin finally found a shop that had our part. They went back with the help of my dad and various other "strangers" to get my car fixed. Let me just tell you this...God used a man, an ordinary man, who was broken, and carried baggage, to completely bless out our lives last night. Mr. Martin not only pushed our car out of the road, laid on the ground with his nice clothes on, drove my husband around to get what we needed, paid for our part, sacrificed his entire evening to help a stranger. Seriously?
How many opportunities do I miss to bless out someone else's life...maybe even a stranger...because I am so rushed, so busied, so consumed with myself. How selfish of me! That night I was finishing reading Romans and this is what I read: We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord....therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory! Romans 15:1-2, 7 It just spoke to my heart! I am so blessed that this situation wasn't worse. Praise God Bill was driving & I wasn't. Praise God the kids were not in the car. Praise God we were in a turn lane with an arrow! Praise God no one was coming when we needed to get across traffic! Praise God our car drifted right! Praise God we didn't get hurt! Praise God we could fix it! Praise God for all the selfless people who stopped to help us! Praise God, Praise God, Praise God!
