Most of the dangerous adventures I encounter happen to fictional characters and take place within my imagination. But one morning this past week, I encountered a [slightly] dangerous real life situation.
My 7 year old and I pulled out of our neighborhood onto a busy six lane road en route to the gym. I was driving in the middle lane when my car suddenly died. Luckily, there were no other cars nearby and I had enough momentum to steer over to the curb. I immediately checked the gas gauge. Empty.
The car in question. *All photos for this post taken after The Event.
Have you seen any of the chipmunk movies? In the movies, Dave, the caretaker of the chipmunks, screams, “AL-VIN!” every time Alvin (the most mischievous of the chipmunks) does something ornery. Well, when I saw that gas gauge I mentally screamed out my husband’s name in a very similar way. You see, my husband had driven my car the entire day before.
The wax figurine of Channing Tatum is not the suspect in question. The suspect is the OTHER, tall, handsome guy pictured.
Now. In my husband’s defense, he’d been driving my car because he’d taken it to get it inspected. My husband is a wonderful guy. He’s a funny, trustworthy, honorable, hard working dad and husband. He’s never had even one sip of alcohol, he doesn’t do drugs, or sky dive, or cliff jump. Here’s how he flirts with danger…. He lets the gas gauges on cars dip frighteningly low.
So, my 7 year old and I now find ourselves inside an out-of-gas car on a six lane road. I’m somewhat worried that we’ll be mowed into from behind, so I hustle my daughter out of the car and we stand on the road’s grassy shoulder. I call the man who likes to let the gas gauge dip frighteningly low. No answer.
Less than thirty seconds later, a woman pulls up behind us to ask if we need help. When I explain, she immediately offers to drive us to the gas station. I gratefully accept her offer. Not only does she drive us to the gas station, but she waits while I purchase a gas can, figure out how to operate the gas can, and fill it with gas. Then she drives us back to our car.
Guess what was hanging from our good Samaritan’s rear view mirror.
A cross.
Guess where she was headed when she came upon us.
To church to meet with her pastor.
She told me that she has a passion for helping and empowering women in the Lord. I told her that we’re Christians and that God had clearly sent her our way right when we needed her.
I emptied the gas into my car’s tank by darting out into the road each time there were no cars coming and darting back to the grassy shoulder each time more cars rounded the bend.
The road in question.
My 7 year old stood safely against the shoulder’s fence, clutching her doll, watching me with round eyes.
My 7 year old’s dramatic re-enactment of her emotions during The Event.
While I was pouring gas from the can into the tank, two more cars stopped to offer help. One man pulled out into the road behind me with his hazards on to help direct traffic around my car. Another man offered me the gas he had stored in the back of his truck if I needed it.
In no time, we were safely on our way to the gas station.
God provides!
That’s what our [slightly] dangerous real life situation proved to me anew. As I thought more about it, I heard God whispering another lesson….
I was very quick to tell the lady who gave us a lift to the gas station that my predicament was my husband’s fault. He left me a car with no gas! There’s no way I could have made it to a gas station on so little gas!
It’s so ingrained in us to default to the belief that those who’ve done nothing wrong are deserving of help, while those who’ve brought hardship on themselves by their own mistakes are less deserving of help. Isn’t it? I wanted my good Samaritan to know that I hadn’t really deserved the consequence that had befallen me so that: 1) I could save face 2) she could feel extra good about helping me.
But, see, Jesus never let the fact that sinners had made bad choices stop him from acting with compassion or extending undeserved love and grace.
The woman and the two men who so quickly stopped to offer me help modeled Christ-like service. They didn’t ask and they didn’t care whether or not it was my fault that I’d run out of gas. They just acted from compassion. They extended help without judgment.
I was reminded of this passage from John 8:9b-11 concerning Jesus’s words to the adulterous woman He’d saved when the Pharisees wanted to stone her to death for her actions:
“…only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
‘No one, sir,’ she said.
‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared.”
Her predicament was her fault. But Jesus helped her and offered her grace, anyway. The perfect, spotless Lamb did not condemn her.
God provides!
He can be trusted to provide for us and He can be trusted to call on us to serve others by providing our help and grace to them in His name.
How has God provided for you lately? Have you ever run out of gas or had your car break down? Did a good Samaritan stop to lend a hand?
Becky Wade
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Ah, Becky. Such a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, Robin. 🙂
What a beautiful story of God’s faithfulness. I was also challenged by those Good Samaritans–I wonder if I would have interrupted my busy day to help.
I was challenged by that question, too, Lynn. Our Good Samaritan was female. She didn’t let that stop her. She didn’t claim any special know-how about cars. She didn’t let that stop her.
One of the things she said to me was, “I’m surprised someone didn’t stop before I did to help you guys.” (We’d only been standing on the shoulder for *seconds* when she stopped.) But her statement goes to show her mind set, and how automatic it was for her to give help and expect the same of other drivers.
Lovely encouragement, Becky. God is good.
Although, I have to tell you that when I first saw the photo at the top of the post, I thought . . . “Why is Becky swishing gasoline in her mouth?” Your conundrum face looks a little like those mouthwash commercials. LOL. But I’m sure you were minty fresh when those Good Samaritans stopped by to help you. 🙂
“Why is Becky swishing gasoline in her mouth?” LOL! No gasoline was mouth-swished in the making of his blog post.
What an excellent reminder.
It truly was for me, Donna! I’m still mulling over it.
I used to teach at a high school in a neighboring city – a 23 mile drive partly on a by-pass. I ran out of gas in the way home one day. I was able to pull to a wide shoulder, but I was at least two miles from a gas station and no cell phones then. I was so scared and I beginning praying. There were only 3 teachers who taught where I did and lived in my city. In a matter of minutes, the two who carpooled drove by, recognized my car, stopped, took me to a gas station and back to my car. It is a miracle that they noticed me sitting at the side of the road. I have never forgotten that nor have I ever run out of gas again! 😊
It’s a helpless feeling, isn’t it? To be stranded on the side of the road without a working car. I love how God provided for you in those circumstances!
Muncho Lake in Alaska the Summer of 2000.
Four Adults in a broken down RV.
God does have a sense of humor.
We broke down near a resort with bathrooms, water, and a restaurant.
The lady in charge told her husband about us. He knew a guy who would be able to tow the RV. Husband in tow truck with us following behind with our Good Samaritan who happened to be going to visit his daughter in a town big enough to have an RV repair shop. On the way we saw a double rainbow stretching all the way across the sky. God’s Provision in the Wilds of Alaska.
“On the way we saw a double rainbow stretching all the way across the sky. God’s Provision in the Wilds of Alaska.” Ah!!! I love this story, Janet. Not only did you have a resort near the site of your breakdown, but a double rainbow?! Awesome.
Such a beautiful and encouraging story. “They acted out of compassion. They extended help without judgement.” “They modeled Christ-like behavior.” Do we do so? I hope so, at least strive to be. Thanks for sharing, Becky!
“Do we do so? I hope so” I hope so, too, Annie! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Ahh. I’m so glad you are both okay. This was great for me today. Yes, we always want to blame others. I’m so guilty of getting in my car and driving off … without checking the gas gauge. I do this all the time. The pictures are just darling … made me chuckle. xoxo
“Yes, we always want to blame others” We really do! It’s such a powerful and dangerous part of our human nature… To want ‘fairness’ when we’re not at fault, to condemn others when they are at fault. To feel that we deserve some things because of our ‘goodness’ and that others don’t deserve things because of their mistakes. That way of thinking is not at all God’s way of thinking. His ways are not our ways! To lay down our human nature and live His way because of His grace requires the deliberate renewing of our minds and cleansing of our hearts.
Becky, you had me laughing out loud and then you had me crying. Great blog. God is so good at taking care of us isn’t He? Oh yeah, I’ve had flat tires on the interstate and made it to the exit without tearing up anything and had help in both situations. He is so good like that!!
“God is so good at taking care of us isn’t He?” So, SO good, Dana!
I have the best out-of-gas story: I was in the Driver’s Ed car! We had just pulled out of the school parking lot and started up the hill, but there was so little gas in the tank that we couldn’t make it to the top of the hill. SO, I had to coast BACKWARDS down the hill, around the turn back into the parking lot, through the lot and around a tight bend to the back of the building where the gas pump was…with a FURIOUS Driver’s Ed teacher by the name of Mr. Lord, and two other girls in the backseat howling with laughter. That ended the class for the day, and he was so mad, he just sent us to the next class about half an hour early. That was the last time he ever let me drive with him, and while the question of whose responsibility it was to check the fuel gauge never came up directly, and Mr. Lord has long since passed on, I learned my lesson. I’ve never been out of gas since!
Ha! I cannot believe that the Driver’s Ed car ran out of gas on you. It seems to me he should have passed you then and there with an A for coasting backwards down the hill. =)
This just makes me cry. Happy tears. God is so good to us, every day. But you stopped in the craziness to notice; and be grateful. Then you shared that lesson with all of us. Thank you.
He truly is so, so good to us, every day. It’s easy to overlook that, isn’t it?
I worked a rural mail route for several years. Every time I had a flat tire someone nice always stopped to help me. And believe me I prayed.
My daughter spent her first two years of college far away but close enough to drive home (5 hours) every now and then. She broke down twice in an area where there were no cell signals. But she was fortunate enough for good people to stop and take her to the nearest repair shop so they could tow her in. The car was only 4 years old too!
“she was fortunate enough for good people to stop” It’s tempting to dwell, if you spend much time watching the news at all, on how many people in the world are doing awful things. But wow. The people doing wonderful things for others — quietly, without news coverage — far, far outnumber the rest.
I cannot believe you left out the REST of the story….what happened during the next little chat with your honey! (Chuckling.)