First, let me thank all of you who have contributed to the GoFundMe account to come to the aid of Nancy Finch whose daughter was murdered in Peachtree City two years ago. She still needs a lot of financial help to overcome two years of financial set-backs, so you can still help at GoFundMe site. Please don’t let the apparent accomplishment of the goal deter you from helping “one of our own.” She still needs help.

Second, today begins Holy Week. Be sure to walk with Jesus. And I’ll meet you at the empty tomb next Sunday.

Now, on to the tire from God. Let’s back up a bit. Last week my wife and I were taking our granddaughter back to Michigan after she stayed behind with us for a week after her family’s spring break. I’ve written before about that route when I wrote about our Christmas tree we brought from up there back here to Georgia. It’s 750 miles, which we drive all in one long 12 hour day.

It’s not an easy trip, but we’re used to it as we journey that way several times a year. Let me be honest. It’s not an easy trip even when everything goes well with no calamities.

Well, this particular trip had a calamity, and what seemed to be a major calamity.

We were on I-75 in the middle lane in the middle of nowhere Kentucky. My wife was driving, as she is our DD, not for that reason. I had been entertaining and serving the princess as I sat in the back seat with her. I had characteristically fallen into a brief snooze, and then it happened.

Boom! The calm was pierced with that sound followed by extra loud rumbles, wobbles, and thumps. We had a blowout of the right rear tire. It took just a second to have that reality sink in, but then it was semi-panic time as we debated ever so briefly what we should do next.

I said, not calmly, “We’ve got to get over to the shoulder!” My wife said, not calmly, “There’s a truck right there. I can’t!” But just then the first miracle took place. Both the truck right behind us and the truck in the right lane right behind us slowed down, put on their flashing lights, and motioned us to move safely to the shoulder. Thank you, good buddies!

We rolled onto the shoulder riding on the rim of that back tire and came to a safe stop. Yes, we were safely on the shoulder, but still only a few feet away from trucks and cars going 75 to 80 miles an hour, and every one whizzing past us and rocking us with their wind force.

So, after a prayer of thanksgiving to God for having spared our lives so far, we took a breath and called our car insurance company for emergency roadside assistance. It’s not that I cannot change a tire, but those circumstances called for an emergency vehicle, a tow truck or similar, to park behind us and be an alert for oncoming traffic.

Our call went through, and of course, the good ‘ol boys of Kentucky would come, but it would be 60-90 minutes. Or, as the very kind Kentuckian told me on the phone, “It’ll be about an ‘eur.’”

It was about an “eur” when they arrived and very professionally changed our blown out tire for the “donut” spare they retrieved from under the back end of our car. The donut needed air, so the tire guys followed us to the next exit, where we could get air for the donut and calculate our next move.

Well, that’s when it got even worse. Much worse. When my wife used the brake at the exit, her foot and the brake pedal went all the way to the floor. I had noticed back on the shoulder that some fluid was on the ground under our tire, but I didn’t perceive what it was. The tire guys said, “Yeah, your brake line is busted.”

They told us that a tire shop was up the side road, they went on their way, and we limped into the tire shop with prayers ascending for some much needed help. We needed a miracle.

It was Friday afternoon at 4:30, a real detriment to a real-time miracle. No, that shop didn’t have a tire our size, and they didn’t do brake line work. The guy there was nice and called a friend of his at another shop, but that guy said he couldn’t get to it until Monday.

He said that there is another shop up the road about a mile and maybe they could help. So, after discussing with each other, my wife and I decided that we should certainly try that, and planned to stomp on the emergency brake if necessary along the way.

Obviously, we were feeling extremely worried about how we were going to get going to Michigan, considering our options, none of which looked any good at the time. Would we have to get a hotel and stay there until Monday? Could we rent a car? How was this all going to play out? It didn’t look good.

We limped into that next shop and were able to stop, thank the Lord. It was a 1950’s style gas station. I don’t believe any updates of any kind had been made to the place since then.

A strong looking young man, covered in grease and tire black, came out to greet us and asked us if he could help. I told him that was our exact prayer, that he could help us. I told him our story. I told him that he doesn’t know it, but my wife has been praying for you for the last hour, praying hard that God would give us a man who could help us, and that I believed he was just that man.

He said, “Well, let’s take a look. I hope I can.” That’s when he became the “brake line angel.” Miraculously, the “busted” brake line was no big deal to him. He crawled under the car, re-connected it, tightened the clamp, added some new brake fluid, and gave me full instruction to pump the brake pedal five times and then hold it down. Sure enough, the brakes were strong as new. We were convinced that God had sent us our “brake line angel.” Thank you, Lord!

Now, the tire. The “donut” comes with firm instructions that it must not be driven over 50 mph, so we knew that our last 350 miles could not be accomplished that way. So, now what?

The young man double checked what size tire we needed, then said, “Let me go check something.” A few minutes later he came out of the back of the work area, rolling a tire. He said, “Let me show you something and ask you a question.” I said, “Sure!”

He told me that this tire was not new. He had pulled it off a wrecked car last December. At that time he knew it was almost new and he couldn’t make himself just throw it on the tire junk pile. He said he thought he might need it sometime down the line.

Well, what he didn’t know is that God had a plan for that tire. It was the exact size we needed and, at now 5:30 Friday afternoon, it was the only tire in the county that would work for us and get us going to Michigan. Yes, it was indeed a “tire from God.” Amen!

You don’t have to believe that. I make no judgement of you if you cannot. But my wife and I believe with all our hearts that God used that young man and that tire from a wrecked car to give us the tire we so desperately needed. That day. That trip. In our dire circumstances. Thank you, Lord.

One more thing. So, what happens after you get work done on your car? You say, “What do I owe you?” So, I did. And what do you think he answered?

“Nothing,” he said, “the brakes were easy and I just had the tire.”

“Oh, no,” I came back. “I need to pay you. You saved us.”

“O.K. what do you think you want to pay?” he asked.

“$200,” I said.

“Too much,” he said.

“$150,” I said.

“No way. Make it $100 if you have to.”

So, with a thankful heart and a much relieved spirit, I paid him $100. I actually paid his wife who was working the cash register, with her little boy beside her. My granddaughter had played with him in the little inside area for the last 30 minutes. Even that was part of the miracle to keep her entertained during the repairs.

By then it was 6:00 p.m., and we had six more hours of driving to get to Michigan. So, we started out, and thankfully and prayerfully and miraculously we arrived at our daughter’s house a little before midnight.

That Monday I took our car to the mechanic we use in Michigan. He checked it all out and said all the tires looked good and the brake line looked good, and he checked out everything underneath and said it all looked good. After I told him our story, he said, with conviction in his voice and eyes, “You are blessed to all be alive!” Amen to that for sure!

That’s our testimony. A tire from God and our brake line angel. God is good. Amen!

Dr. Kollmeyer, a thirty-nine year resident of Fayette County, is a retired Lutheran pastor. He offers his preaching and teaching ministry to any church or group seeking or needing a Christ centered, Biblically based, and traditionally grounded sermon or teaching. Reach him at justin.kollmeyer@gmail.com.