An Angel Watching Over Us
Last weekend my husband and I ventured out to drive our son to Iowa for a college visit. He loves to play football and this school has a great football program. This was their last open house day for football players- to come tour the school, meet the coach and watch their final game of the season.
We left before dawn as it was going to be about a four hour drive for us to get there. Halfway into our trip my husband noticed a vibration coming from the rear of the truck. Funny noises and vibrations are not new to us, as we have been driving older, high mileage vehicles for years. We deliberated, is it on the right or the left? Does it get louder when you step on the gas? Could it be this? Or this? The vibration persisted, so he decided to take an exit and pull of the highway to investigate further. Would we be able to continue to Iowa?
As he began the curve for the exit ramp, the truck jolted and started making a terrible screeching sound. “There goes our wheel!” my husband shouted in disbelief. He was able to keep control of the truck enough to get us to the shoulder, I am grateful he was driving and not me.
The rear tire came off. It just came off. It rolled down the interstate and crossed six lanes of traffic. Miraculously avoiding any other vehicles on the road.
My husband instinctively jumped out of the truck, crossed the highway, found the tire in the ditch on the other side, and rolled it back to the truck. And I am freaking out. What if he gets hit by a car? What if someone doesn’t see us in time and hits the truck on the curve? How bad is the damage to the truck? How are we going to get back home? And what are we going to do about Iowa?
It was just a few minutes before a state trooper pulled up. He put out warning flares and offered to call a tow truck for us. Which we declined because we had called our “Roadside Assistance” with our insurance company. The officer left his card with us just in case we needed anything and went on his way. So there we sat. Alone on the side of the interstate, the truck too far gone to drive. Waiting for a call back from our insurance company. We waited and waited. The flares burned out, the sun came up, the morning traffic rush started. Car after car stormed passed us. I felt so vulnerable and alone on the side of the road. Afraid we would get hit. Afraid no one would come.
When we finally did get the call back from “Roadside Assistance” my fear came true. No tow truck company was willing to come out. Which I still do not understand. What good is “Roadside Assistance” when the insurance company can’t get someone to assist you on the side of the road? I think we will be getting a different insurance company after all this, but that is a story for another day.
After TWO HOURS we decided to try the trooper again for help. He had explained they can expedite a towing service. I called the number on the card. A woman answered and I explained what happened and that the trooper had told us to call if we needed anything. She seemed to already know exactly what I was talking about as she said, “Yep. We’ve been watching over you. I’ve had you on camera the whole time.” Even though the trooper had left, there was a traffic camera in the area somewhere and this nice dispatcher had spent her morning making sure we were OK. Even though we still had to wait a bit more for the tow truck, and even though traffic kept speeding by, I felt less alone. Instantly, I was at ease knowing that someone was watching over us, ready to send help.
Why do I spend so much of my life in “freak out” mode? So much of the time, when life is racing by, I feel so alone. Abandoned and broken on the side of the road. I have so many fears. So many worries. What if this or that happens? What if something goes wrong? What if someone I love gets hurt? What if things don’t go the way I planned? The relief I felt when I knew the state patrol had our truck on camera is the same peace I should have every day. God is watching over me. All the time. He has a traffic cam pointed at each one of us. And when we call out to Him with our fears He can say “Don’t worry. I’ve been watching over you the whole time.”