Upon Attempting to Leave FLorida

August 18, 2014

We finally departed our De Leon Springs house, which was no longer ours, by 10:18 am.  Jessie was driving since he already had experience pulling trailers.  He was stressed while driving, but all was going well when a tire blew out on the trailer.

Although we did swerve widely and it was alarming, we were kept perfectly safe.  Jessie pulled off the road in preparation of changing out the tire that blew.  Thankfully all that was needed for that was readily accessible and he diligently set to work in the sunny heat at almost noon.  (The tire blew around 11:30am.)

After he’d been working for a little while, I started to feel sick and couldn’t ignore the impression that I had to get out there and help him.  Although I physically was not much help, it could be that my presence with him prompted a man and his wife to stop and help.  The fella, Daniel, a waste water worker for the National Forestry, was far more helpful as a result of his considerable upper body strength.  He’s a guy, after-all.  Additionally, he was able to counsel with Jessie over the spare tire we had… but which didn’t work!  In my observation of buys in stressful situations, counseling together is almost always as helpful as or more helpful even than the “helper” guy physically doing anything.

Susan, wife of Daniel, was a pleasant lady with whom I was able to have a chat.  She shared a bit about their experience on that particular road.  Though she did not say it, basically stopping to help people who seem stuck on the side of the road is a ministry for them.  Praise the Lord for His perfect timing.  Among other things, Daniel recommended a tire shop down the road.

After our road-angels departed, we headed to the tire shop with the blown tire.  It was more than 10 miles in the direction we wanted to go, but, of course, we had to go back to the trailer to put the tire on it.  On top of everything else, we saw rain and drove into some when we went to a gas station to use the restroom.

When we got back to the trailer, Jessie was able to get the new tire in place without any problems.  He went around the other side to check on the other tire and found it completely flat.  Praise the Lord!  I’d just been worried that we would get on the road only to have the other one blow out as badly or worse than the first one did.  So, he took that one off and we set out to the same tire place.  We were going to replace it anyway (Jessie had already paid for it), but were hoping to drive the trailer to the tire shop.  I’m sure this way was much safer, although significantly more time consuming.  On this trip, we drove into and through rain.

The fellow at the tire shop was worried about us because it took longer than he expected for us to return.  He was also worried that we were going to get drenched because the rain was fast and furious where it fell.  We’d definitely seen that and I think Jessie was just accepting that he would get really wet eventually.

The rain was falling hard when we returned to the trailer.  I hoped and prayed that somehow Jessie wouldn’t have to get totally soaked.  I didn’t know how that could happen since we drove into heavily falling rain as we returned to the trailer.  The rain continued to fall heavily as we u-turned to get on the right side of the road and even as we pulled ahead of the trailer so that Jessie could back up to it and get in place for reconnecting it to the van. The rain slowed a little as Jessie backed up and the Lord mercifully blessed us with a complete cessation of the rain as Jessie got out of the van to get the tire and put it in place!  We were both a little shocked and super grateful.  Jessie said, afterward, “See.  I told you I am His favorite.”  Yes.  Yes you are, Jessie… just as we all are.  And in a way that only works with God… It’s a fact that we are each His favorite and the truth that we are each His favorite doesn’t decrease the favor in being His favorite!

Replacing the second tire also went smoothly and we returned to our journey west without further incident… at least, free of the tire blowing kind!

Romans 15: 13, “Now the Go of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

If you are among those of my friends who have been waiting long for this story, I'm so sorry it's taken THIS long to get it onto my blog.  I have it partially formatted for a group I participate in - we share lessons we learn from our lives.  Pretty cool, right?  :)