Toby, age 15; Jamie, age 13; Michelle, age 11
Psalm 115:11 says, “Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.“
In January, 1986, Floyd’s job took him away from home for nine months. So in April, we drove down to Wichita, Kansas to spend a week with him during our kids’ Easter vacation from school. It took me about twelve hours to get there from Cincinnati.
We left Wichita at 9:00 am two days before Easter and headed home. I noticed that my Subaru station wagon was making a loud noise upon acceleration. It was too loud to miss.
As we approached St Louis, I’m thinking, Something’s wrong with the car, Lord. I hate to stop to get it checked out, but if I don’t, I might break down on the other side of St Louis and we’ll be stranded out in the middle of nowhere. This was before cell phones, so I would have had no way to call for help. Yet, at the same time, I still had a lengthy drive ahead of me, and I just wanted to get home. In addition, we were coming into town about 4:30 pm on Good Friday, so I knew that people were anxious to get off work and head home for the day.
I volleyed the pros and cons back and forth in my mind, asking God for wisdom and guidance. I needed to make a decision, and I needed to make it now. The truth was, God had alerted me to the unnatural sound while I was coming into a big city where He could easily provide the help I needed. But I was tired and just wanted to get home.
As we drove into O’Fallon, I saw a freeway service sign that said “Firestone.” I didn’t know they put those kind of businesses on their signs. And I’d never noticed one before; nor have I seen one since. But I thought, Lord, there’s a Firestone at the next exit. Should I stop there? Right on cue, my youngest spoke. “Mom, the car doesn’t sound right. There’s a Firestone coming up. Maybe you should stop and get it checked.” Michelle has Williams syndrome and was functioning on about a six-year-old level. Yet, that was all the confirmation I needed. My mentally handicapped daughter also thought it might be wise to stop. I said, “I think you’re right, Michelle.” Toby adamantly disagreed. “Aw, Mom, don’t stop. I’m tired and just want to get home.” I did, too. But if we broke down on the other side of St. Louis, none of us would get home – at least not tonight. I exited the Freeway, turning into the Firestone which sat right off the Interstate. I’m still amazed at how many ways God tried to warn me of our precarious situation.
The Firestone mechanics were all very busy trying to finish up their work for the day when I pulled in. The service manager told me, “It might be a bit before we can look at the car, but we’ll squeeze it in.” I pulled a brand new video tape out of the car that we’d purchased in Kansas and the manager allowed me to put it on for the kids in the waiting room. That kept them occupied.
About an hour later, the service manager told me that the rear end had gone out on the car and it needed a new transaxle. He said that St. Louis had a Subaru dealer located on the other side of town and he asked if I would like directions to get there or if I would prefer he call me a tow truck. I said, “Will the car make it that far?” He replied, “It might.” It might? Ugh! That meant it might not, too. I said, “Call a tow truck.” And here I’d been contemplating driving through St. Louis and attempting to make it all the way to Cincinnati. I shudder at the reckless decision I nearly made and the disastrous consequences that God mercifully spared us from as a result.
The service manager called a tow truck; then he phoned Enterprise Car Rental for me. The tow truck driver wasn’t equipped to take a credit card, so I had to leave the kids at Firestone while he transported me to their office to scan my card for billing. When we returned to Firestone, the rental car was there. The kids and the guy who brought the rental car were unloading the back of my Subaru into the rental. After completing all the paperwork for renting a car, we were finally ready to hit the road again.
I ran down the service manager to thank him for all he’d done for us and to pay for their mechanical services. With a smile, he said, “There’s no charge. You have a safe drive home.” Because of all they did for us that evening, I think very highly of Firestone.
When we left Firestone, I had to detour to the St. Louis Airport to drop off the guy who’d brought us the rental car, so it was 9:00 when we finally hit the road again. We had a four and a half hour lay-over in St. Louis, but thanks to the Lord, we arrived home safely at 2:30 am the following morning, rather than sleeping in the car broke down on the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere. God was our help and our shield. We certainly wouldn’t have made it home without Him.