Dear Jesus: thanks for keeping us from getting blasted on the side of the highway

Hubs and I decided to get some lunch at a restaurant where our friend works.

The food was magical, we got to chat with him for a bit, which was nice because we hadn't seen him in awhile.

Our check came and the waitress told us that our friend had covered our check for us.

How sweet of him!

So, to pay it forward, Anj left the 20 bucks that would've went toward our lunch for the waitress as her tip.

That song by Clay Walker that makes me cry every time I hear it popped in my head. You know, the one about the guy helping the old lady change her tire, and how he refuses to let her pay him. Then, she leaves this huge tip for a waitress at a diner down the road (the same money that he wouldn't take as payment). Seriously, you gotta listen to it.
{This song:  }

Anyway, we were full as toads and on our drive home, we were trying to decide how we wanted to spend the rest of our afternoon.

I was in a food coma and was about to drift off to sleep when I heard a sound.

A repetitive sound.

That seemed to be getting louder.

Like the one you hear when you are running over those reflector lights in the road.

I looked around us at the lane to our left, and the lane to our right at the cars speeding by at 60, 65 miles an hour, wondering where the sound was coming from.

I looked at Anj. He was sitting up super straight and checking all the mirrors, trying to switch lanes, and it wasn't anywhere near our exit.

My stomach felt gross.

Then I knew.

It was us. Oh shit.

And one of our dang tires.

A front tire.

The one on my side.

I was lower than the rest of the car.

Holy snapple.

Andrew is all cool and collected, calmly trying to get over - first, to the lane to our right, and eventually, to the shoulder of the upcoming exit without getting blasted by the people on 77 who could give two shits about slowing down for a car in distress.

Me? Calm? Not so much.

"Turn on the hazzards! Turn on the hazzards! Blow the horn! These people are nuts! We'll never get over!"

We finally make it over to the shoulder by the exit.

The guard rails are quickly approaching on my side, and we can't exactly slam on breaks, because there is only one tire supporting the front end of the car.

Closer and closer and closer.

I am just waiting to hear the sound of the whole passenger's side grinnnnnnding against the guard rails, and I'm already wondering how either one of us is going to be able to get out - me, because I'm about to be pinned against the guard rails, and Anj, because he'll be right against people flying onto the exit.

Finally, the car comes to a stop, and I am too close to the guard rail to open the door, and therefore, we are also too close to the guard rail for Anj to have room to change the tire.

So, we have to back up, on the shoulder, against oncoming traffic alongside the highway.

I am talkin' to Jesus 900 miles a minute, but I feel confident that He can understand every word I'm sayin'.

As we are backing up, I can hear the tire rim, wrapped in lose, flapping rubber, grinding against the ground with every rotation.

Eventually, we were far enough away from the guard rail to stop with enough room to change the tire.

Anj waited for a break in traffic to get out of the driver's side.

I got out and looked, and Anj yelled at me to get back in the car and stay out of the road because it was dangerous.

But, all I could think about was

1) if I get out, and stand in the grass (on the safe side of the guard rail), it'll hopefully draw attention of drivers who are probably looking at their phones or changing the radio or yelling at their kids ... to the fact that we are parked, and not simply braking

2) if a car is not paying attention, I want time to yell at Anj to get the hell up and come to the grass with me before they slam into Sylvia

3) me continuing to sit in the front passenger seat is just adding another several, unneeded pounds to that rim

So, I grabbed the car manual because getting to my spare tire is totally random and not intuitive, got out of the car, stepped over the guard rail, back into the grass, and prepared to shout over the traffic to my husband in case he needed more info.

Then, I thanked the Lord Jesus above for 1) getting us safely across two lanes, plus an exit lane to the safety of the shoulder so we could change our tire 2) letting my dear sweet husband be there with me or I woulda been toe out tha frame (more than I was) 3) not letting my rim get damaged or bent 4) providing everything we needed within the car to get the tired changed (jack, spare, tire iron, etc)

Then, I prayed for Him to keep us safe until the tire was changed, and not let that jack collapse before Anj got the spare on.

My heart was racin' y'all.

People were flying by, blowing the horn at us while my husband crawled around on the pavement, beside heavy 65 mph traffic, in his shorts and flip flops, sweating like a mule to get our tire changed.

Thankfully, Anj was able to get the spare on with no real trouble, and no one blasted our asses in the process.

I told Anj on the way home, that I realized that sometimes, I just wanna know WHY!? WHY!? WHY?! with things that happen in this life of ours. WHY does God allow it? Has he forgotten us? What is his reasoning? But, every single time I wonder that - without fail - he reminds me in another, totally unrelated way, that he is still in control, and he blesses us everyday.

He and Sylvia must be pretty tight because this sho ain't the first time he has rescued homegirl.

The Lord is good, friends.

And I thank him for this guy:

I was thinking about our friend paying our bill, and how nice that was of him to do.

And how good it felt to do something nice for someone else by leaving the waitress the tip that was almost the total cost of our bill. And then how nice it is of Jesus to rescue us from disasters pretty much around the clock. Sometimes we can see those disasters being averted plain as day - like when our tire blew out today. But, a lot of times, we have to look a little closer, and think a little deeper and more positively. He's saving us from other messes that we don't even know about. Some of those things that we see as disappointments and failures are really God saying, "I have a better time frame, and a better plan, just hold tight."

We couldn't find any obvious cause. We think the tire just blew. But, I'm due for some new tires anyway, so Miss Sylvia will be gettin' herself four brand new shoes come Monday.