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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Angels have wheels
Angels don’t have wings, in case you were wondering. Rather, they have wheels and quietly roam the nation’s highways, waiting for that perfect moment when you need them most, but least expect them.
I was driving down Interstate 40 just outside of Hickory, N.C. when it happened. A quiet running mini-van went dead.
We rolled to the shoulder about 100 feet from an off-ramp.
Breaking down on the highway while on vacation, with four kids, can be daunting. It can even be frightening. You never know whether or not the mechanic you end up with on Memorial Day, when all is closed, will take you or help you.
We walked to a nearby truck stop and I was handed the name of a mobile mechanic who makes shoulder-side calls on semi-trucks. Jerry Barrett answered the phone and listened as I explained my dilemma to him.
He gave me instructions on what to look for and told me to call him back. When I reported that I had no spark in the spark plug, the man asked for several minutes. He’d be right there.
Jerry Barrett arrived in his heavy-duty garage on wheels. He checked under the hood, explained that I had lost my timing belt, that he wouldn’t charge me for the call and he would have a friend take care of me from there.
A tow-truck arrived. On the back window was a sticker that read “Angels Among Us.” The driver said it was from a country song. I knew better.
I’m not certain what I think of all those stories of wispy, mysterious angels swooping down and saving folks from near disaster, but I can tell you that there are, indeed, angels among us.
You see, we were returning home from a vacation and we were six hours from our front door. Anyone out there on Interstate 40 could have taken us for a wad of cash and whatever was left on a credit car. But instead Jerry Barrett found us and guided us from a shoulder, to an honest garage to a hotel just down the road.
And the funny thing is, while I had a good time in the Appalachian Mountains hiking around waterfalls and the like, it was that extra day we were forced to take, in a Ramada Inn somewhere in the North Carolina Piedmont, that made a difference.
Wasting time, we found ourselves in a swimming pool. And in that pool I watched as three of my small children final grew water wings and began swimming on their own for the first time, unaided by inflatables. I watched as they began to jump into the pool without the security of my long arms waiting for them and we all laughed and played and were tired, but satisfied.
I’ve heard people say time and again that there are blessings in disguise. And while I suppose I could have looked at this whole thing as though I was out a wad of cash and space on a credit card, a roadside angel named Jerry Barrett in Hickory, N.C. made all the difference. He was interested in helping people he didn’t know, if for no other reason than he could, and that made all the difference for me, my wife and our four children as we were stranded on Interstate 40, unwittingly awaiting the arrival of an angel among us.
