He Did It Again

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
 no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Psalm 91:9-12

Tuesday afternoon we were driving west on I-90, not far from the Ohio/Pennsylvania border.  The roads were rough.  Probably all that lake effect snow.  Then we heard that sound.  You know the sound. A bang, bang, bang of the tire tread hitting the wheel well and falling off.  Nathan immediately slowed down and eased the RV into the shoulder.  A guardrail hemmed us in on the right and the shoulder was just wide enough for our vehicle.  Waiting for a break in traffic, Nathan hopped out into the interstate and walked around to quickly assess the damage.



The tread had stripped off, but the tire was still inflated.  Given Winnie's size, flat tires are not something we can deal with by ourselves.  We needed a tire service, but there was no way a tire service could assist us at our present location with the affected tire blocked by the guardrail.  Nathan said he thought, "I can't wait to see how God provides for us today!"

We looked on our GPS and saw there was an exit just a mile and a quarter ahead, so we slowly, slowly crept up the road to the exit while I jumped on our Facebook page and solicited prayer.

Within just two minutes, our Epaphras Team prayer partner for the day had commented, "Praying!"  She lives in a time zone 7-8 hours ahead of us, and in spite of the late hour of the day, she was awake and on Facebook!

We reached the top of the exit and spotted a truck service business with a large, empty parking lot.  We pulled in and I called AAA.  They were nice, but told us that they were unable to help us because our plan did not include RV coverage (oops! -- thankfully they had helped us earlier in our trip!).  They offered to call us a truck tire service, but we would have to pay out of pocket.  And after having used a tire service when our rear tires blew in Kentucky in January, we knew it would cost us about $200.



Nathan decided to inquire of the trucking company about a recommendation for a tire service, but the business was closed.  At the end of the property he spotted another building that appeared to have a bit more activity.  He introduced himself and described our problem.  The three guys at work dropped what they were doing and invited us to bring Winnie down to them and let them help us.

They drove their forklift over to pick up Winnie's front end, then Tom got his tools and slipped off the affected tire.  Nathan brought him our spare and it was quickly put on.  Kevin came back from the break room with a box of Little Caesars pizza which he offered us to eat while we waited.  Ellie and Reni had fun playing with their two boxers, Wyatt and Dixie.

We tried to give payment, but they refused.  We were humbled by their kindness and generosity.  But it didn't stop there.  Kevin had left and returned a few minutes later, not with pizza this time, but a lightly-used tire to replace our spare!  Wow.  It had been left by another individual who had sought similar assistance on a previous day.

Thank you, Steve, Tom, and Kevin, for showing such kindness to strangers!  It was a joy to see how the Lord provided for us through you!

We got back on the interstate and would you know, we immediately entered a construction zone with no space to pull over for a break down for several miles?  Can you imagine if our tire had lasted just 1.25 miles longer?

During our incident in Georgia when we discovered that 6.5 of our lug nuts had sheared off the rear right tires, I told someone we must have had an angel holding those tires on the Winnie while we barreled down the interstate.  After a third tire incident on the Winnie (each one affecting a different corner of the RV), I can't help but believe we've got angels, fueled by your prayers, on all four corners of our vehicle while we travel. Thank you, dear friends!

I have to tell you, building our Epaphras team has been such a faith building experience for me.  I've tried to put specific prayer requests for each day on the reminder e-mails.  Wouldn't you know, God has answered those requests?  If you would like to be a part of this team, please e-mail me (cydilwaggoner@gmail.com) and I'll get you set up!  Just like all of those individuals who went out of their way to help us in our adoptions of Ellie and Reni, those of you who are holding up our family through your prayers and finances to help us get to Albania, you have a special place in heart!  We thank the Lord for your generosity!