Ray of Ight

Excitedly, I drove along I95 towards the venue for our Toastmasters’ Area Contests on Saturday morning. As the contest chairperson, I left out early to ensure that I was in place to get everything ready prior to the attendees’ arrival. Daydreaming about how I wanted to arrange the room and envisioning the guests and contestants having a great time, I suddenly heard an unpleasant sound coming from my car. You know the one, the thud, bump, blop, and blop of a flat tire.

In complete disbelief, I started bargaining with God: “Please don’t let it be a flat, please don’t let it be a flat.” But the dashboard indicator light for tire trouble came on…yes it was a flat. I looked around and saw an exit was only a few feet away. I got off and my prayer changed: “Please let me be able to change this tire quickly!” (My brothers and taught me how to do this when I was younger. But who wanted to change a flat when one is all dressed for a meeting!)

As I exited the highway, I recalled that a gas station was a block away. I pulled into the station and open the door only to smell and see my tire smoking. A man walked out of the convenient store at the same moment. He asked: “Do you need any help?” It was as though the clouds parted and a ray of light shone around him. “DO I NEED HELP! Heck, Yeah!” I thought. I simply told him, pleadingly: “Yes. Pleaaasssseee.” He told me to move up more and he immediately started to help me.  As I emptied the trunk to get to the spare (note to self…don’t keep junk in your trunk), he told me to leave the heavy lifting to him.

Then the next problem occurred. It seems that the lug nuts on my tire did not match the opening of the wrench for the car. He tried, but nothing worked. At that moment, another vehicle pulled it. The driver saw our struggles and asked if we needed help. We told him our dilemma and he pulled out a four-pronged wrench and one of the heads fitted. Hallelujah! Another parting of the clouds, another angel in place. Between the both of them, my tire was replaced. The second angel sold me the wrench for $5 and they both refused to take money for helping me change the tire. Hugs were given in place of money!

I happily drove off and made it to the venue well before most of the guests arrived. We had a most wonderful event! Afterwards, I drove to my mechanic and had to purchase a new tire for the car. He said I was very lucky that the car didn’t go out of control, because the tire was so badly damaged (see picture). I told him luck had nothing to do with it…God had His guardian angels around me that day!

Flat Tire 1 SAMSUNG

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