We drove yesterday to pick up an office chair for my husband, on the way home our truck died. However, as he was pushing it off the highway to safety a strapping young man jumped out of his pick-up and ran over to help push. My husband ended up having to run to keep up with him. My husband said the young man said, 'What the heck, it's Christmas.' I was steering and it was a joy to see the big smile beaming forth from his face. And, from all appearances he could have been an Illegal Alien. (This gives us a more charitable outlook on that group of people.
Next, after a while of working at trying to see what was wrong, another young man stopped to help. He seemed sincere but inept. When my husband stepped to the bed of the truck to get a tool the young man pulled the spark plug wire off one plug and broke it. My husband didn't get mad (in the past he would have at least asked, 'why did you do that?'), he just showed the young man how to fix that mishap. I think the boy was embarrassed for doing that and left shortly afterward but he left wishing us good luck. Again, we are filled with charitable feelings toward him. When my husband was younger, he was the one who stopped and often was an instrument of the Lord getting the problems fixed for folks.
Thirdly, a family stopped and by then we knew we would not be able to easily get it running. The husband gave my husband a ride to our house to pick up our van so we would not be stranded. He left his 14 year old son to keep me safe and give me company.
We drove towards home and saw a neighbor outside with a yard full of company, we pulled in and asked if he could help us pull the truck home (it was parked not more than 4 miles from home). He came straight away to help.
All those kindnesses sure felt great. It was God sent. Worth having the breakdown to have our feelings of 'love thy neighbor' boosted.
Another good Providence in the trial - it was a beautiful Spring-like day. We had not even taken our jackets. Today it is 37 and rainy. To breakdown on a day like today would have been brutal. God was merciful to us in that, too. Plus, we were only 4 miles from home when it happened and not stuck on the Interstate Highway.
Today we are still talking about how good it all made us feel, even though the truck is still not running we can still feel the Hand of God and it is difficult to contain our joy. That is why I wanted to post and share it. If I hadn't been able to share it I think I may have burst.
white stone