GOSPEL TIDBIT: GOD'S PERFECT TIMING
Gary & Linda
I was working out in Calgary and commuting from a small community 5o
miles away, Beiseker, Alberta. I was staying with a couple of my sons
and a grandson and so was away from my wife and family who lived a
further hundred miles south east. I had wanted to go and spend some
time with them but was low on gas funds. I had gotten up early and
headed into Beiseker for a coffee. My grandson had asked me the night
before "grandpa are you going home for the weekend?" I said , " I
would love to but am short on gas." As we were all in the same
predicament, I knew that I would be staying in Beiseker as well for
the weekend, Or so I thought. Earlier in the week I had purchased a
tire patching kit as I had had a flat tire on a trailer I was using.
This kit contained what you would call a plug. That is a piece of
rubber that you put on a thing that is needle like and insert it into
the hole in the tire. I had found them to work quite effectively. I
had this repair kit in my tool box in the trunk of the car when I went
for coffee. Upon arriving at the service station , I noticed a large
gravel truck with a pup trailer pulled up alongside the air pump. A
Pakistani truck driver was trying to put air in one of the rear tires
on the pup trailer. He was on his cell phone chatting with someone in
a discouraging tone of voice. I walked over to where he was and
noticed that the air pressure read only thirty pounds. I then tried to
get the pressure gauge to read higher as his truck tires could hold at
least ninety pounds. He kept looking at me as if I was some kind of
nut. Where I put my hand on top of the rear tire as I was trying to
set the machine, I could feel air coming out. By the grace of God, I
had my hand on the exact location of the leak. He was still chatting
away in his language to someone on the other end. I motioned to him
with my hands, which meant, ah, wait a minute, I think I can help you.
Of course he didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about. I
walked over to my car and grabbed my tool box and returned to where he
was still looking at me incredulously. I then motioned to him as best
I could that I think that I could alleviate him from distress, and
help him get on his way to make money again. I pulled the plug from my
tool box and after rasping the area with a tool that comes along with
the kit, I inserted the plug. I cut the excess material off at tire
level and then checked the pressure in his other tires on the
trailer. Sure enough, they were ninety pounds. I began to fill his
tire with air to the ninety pound mark and upon doing this , placed
some saliva on the leaking spot and lo and behold, no leak. I then
obtained some water from the service station to double check and
praise God the plug worked! I said to the fella, now you can keep
working, have a great day. He said, what do I owe you, I said nothing.
He then pulled out his wallet and handed me a twenty dollar bill. You
could tell by the change in his voice in talking to the fellow on the
line as well as his picturesque smile that he was a happy camper. That
gave me enough gas money to make it home for the weekend. As I didn't
go back to Beiseker to tell the rest of the fellows what had happened,
they were surprised to find me not there when they awoke. When I came
back
early Monday morning to pick them up for work in Calgary my grandson
said, "grandpa where were you all weekend, I said, I went home to
Champion, he said, I thought that you didn't have any gas money. I
said I didn't but God blessed me with an opportunity to fix a fellow's
tire in Beiseker who gave me twenty dollars for my effort. Have we got
a wonderful God or what!
Copyright Gary James Smith
September 16, 2011