Summer is at least half way passed now and we got a chance to get some R & R in Amish country recently. It was a great chance to spend some time with family in that area and to relax enjoying shops and fun things around Lancaster and Hershey, while enjoying the beauty and quiet of the country.
On the way to our hotel, we stopped for lunch to visit with some family after visiting the shops at Kitchen Kettle Village. We had already had a great start to our first day, relaxing on the drive, saying some prayers along the way, and soaking in the beauty all around us. As we were almost arrived to our family's house, suddenly "Boom!" "What was that?" we both thought, as our tire blew and we had to pull over as best as possible on a single lane road. Neither of us remembers seeing anything on the road.
Well, within the time it took for me to try to find the number for our road assistance and to call and get "if this... press this number... if that … press this number …", a man pulled over in his truck, a lady pulled over and parked across the street and a local official of some sort pulled over behind us. So I hung up on my cell phone as I saw the truck driver (named Paul) take over changing our tire and the lady run across the street asking if we were alright and offering water and ice on the 93+ degree day. Then the officer (not sure exactly who he was but he wore a uniform and had an official car of some sort) pulled his vehicle behind us to keep us safe while our tire was being changed. He also walked back a few hundred feet to check to see what we had hit on the road and didn’t find anything so it may have been a stone that flew off the road after it blew the tire.
Within about 20 minutes, we were packed up with our luggage back in the car, with our spare donut tire in place and back on the road. It felt like we had been surrounded by angels and showered with God's love in that brief whirlwind of our blow out and we were only 15 min late for lunch! Then to top it off, we saw a rainbow as we drove our final leg of the journey to our hotel. Crazy enough, this day was one of my favorite parts of our vacation, if you can believe it!
I used to reflect on the concept of "blessed and broken" as us being broken as persons, yet blessed by God's love and given as blessing to others, as a reflection of Jesus, Bread from heaven, blessed and broken on the altar given to us. Well, today I realized that our tire experience was a new interpretation for me of the "blessed and broken" reflection: blessed by the angels sent to us to help with our "broken" tire, which set our hearts on fire to share God's blessings with all those whom we met along the way. What a great lesson in trusting in God and a great start to our vacation! It set the tone to deepen not only our relationship as husband and wife during our time away but to deepen our trust and hope in Jesus, seeing first hand He is with us always in every detail. Jesus, we trust in You!
