The bright orange engine icon stared at me from the dashboard of our Ford Escape.
I couldn’t find anything critically wrong with our car. It had oil and antifreeze, and it ran. Then, as if the first icon was lonely, a second appeared—a wrench. This wasn’t good. Our budget was rock-bottom low. I hoped it was just a bad sensor.
Charlotte struggled to hold back tears of frustration. It was my wife’s first day of retirement, and she needed to be at the Social Security office to fill out paperwork.
She sniffed. “The car is kaput.”
And it was. The top speed was 20 mph. Charlotte had left on her first day of retirement chores but barely got one hundred feet. She was able to chug-chug her way back up our driveway. I opened the car door, and the orange dashboard icons greeted me like old friends.
We emptied our wallets and looked in pockets and under sofa cushions to form a meager emergency fund. Finally, we took a moment to pray and then called a tow truck. Charlotte would ride with the driver to the Ford dealership. One of us needed to be around when our grandson Caleb got home from his first day in the sixth grade. Hopefully, we’d receive a loaner vehicle.
As Charlotte rode off with the tow truck, I poured a cup of coffee and bowed my head, “Father, we’re in trouble. Please help us.”
After a couple of cups of coffee, I received Charlotte’s first call. The dealership had already loaned all their customer assistance cars.
“They are studying the diagnostics,” Charlotte said.
I told her to get an estimate before they repaired the car. A few cups of coffee later, Charlotte called again. It’s even worse, I thought.
But I was wrong. Her tears were ones of joy. She had our Escape back and repaired. Ford replaced the throttle, and it had cost nothing. Ford had an extended warranty on that year’s throttle. Even the tow was free.
“Gott mit uns,” Charlotte said, reverting to her native German tongue. It means “God is with us.” And He is … always. Yet I’m constantly surprised when He moves in my life. But I shouldn’t be. I need to get to the point where I know in my heart—regardless of the situation—that He is there.
Learn to trust. God will never let you down.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Kevin Spencer likes to play with words, help others play with them, and is privileged to be a staff writer for Christian Devotions. He lives with his beautiful blessing of a wife, Charlotte, and his amazing collegiate grandson, Caleb.