My wife and older daughter were traveling back from Orlando last night and I got a call around 8pm that they’d had a blowout. The back right tire either hit something or a belt decided to give way. It’s shredded. In the moment, I wanted to rush to help them. I hated the fact that they were sitting on the side of the road with no one to help them. My daughter was ready to spring into action and take care of everything, but we tried to tell her, it was too dark and too busy of a road to try and do it themselves.
As I started to change clothes into something that would be OK to lay under the car on the side of the road, I actually prayed to myself for their safety. Dark at Night. Interstate 675. Their tiny PT Cruiser vs a sleepy trucker or other motorist could be bad. I could tell from their map pinpoint they were too far to walk either way on the interstate and couldn’t scale a treelined area into the neighborhood to their starboard side. The quick prayer helped calm me. I told my wife that we needed to get HERO assistance or use the AAA card that my parents had gotten for the girls. My eagerness to rush into the situation was blinding my common sense, that. someone could get to them before me. Someone who is trained in what to do, and would have all the tools needed to do the job.
We stayed on the phone the whole time we waited for someone to show up. It was around 80 minutes before AAA came. At times I was still worried what could happen to them.
As it turns out, even the AAA towing service had problems with several of the bolts on the PT. If I had gone, I probably would not have been able to do anything. He had the right tools. He had safety hazard lights. He was the right person for the job. All the time on the phone, I could hear him talking with my wife and daughter. Making jokes. Keeping calm. He was a blessing.
Do It Yourself is a mentality that in some areas is nice, but in other areas can be a hinderance to solving your problems. There are experts who can do it better and quicker. Safer. They’re trained for it. They genuinely love doing what they do. I wanted to help, but Expertise Beats Eagerness.
I’m thankful tonight that they made it home safely. God answered my prayers today by protecting them and sending the right guy for the job who put them back on the road.