In the Dailies

My weekly exercise in positive blogging, Mama Loves is Philippians 4:8-9 in action. Learn more at this post.

Mama loves angels in disguise.

Last Thursday I woke with this prayer: “God, I’ve done it again. I overbooked myself today. Forgive me and please help me make it through the day with me and my children all in one piece.”

My schedule for the day went something like this.

• 7 am – Be showered and dressed; coffee flowing
• 7:30 am – Have both children fed, dressed, and out the door happy with bags packed, ready for school
• 7:45 am – Stop at the A&P to grab fresh fruit for school snacks
• 8:15 am – Arrive at school a few minutes late, but safe and still happy
• 8:30 am – Successfully drag Zach out of Ellie’s classroom without causing too much distraction to the rest of the school
• 9:30 am – Be at IKEA (30 minutes away), just in case they open the doors early
• 10 am – Storm IKEA, grab desired items, pay quickly, and rush back to the car all while avoiding catastrophe; bribe son if necessary.
• 10:45 am – Meet Mom at home
• 10:50 am – Drive (with Mom) to Ellie’s school for a special Easter celebration
• 11 am – Enjoy Easter celebration
• 11:30 am – Leave school, drop Mom and Zach at home
• 12 pm – Have Ellie at the cardiologist; complete required paperwork; torture firstborn for 1.5 hrs
• 1:30 pm – Spend rest of day trying to remove the EKG stickers with the fewest number of tears and least amount of terrified screaming

What you don’t see on my schedule, what interrupted my so carefully planned schedule, was an exploding tire somewhere around 10:30 am. Yup. Everything went fine – a little hairied, but fine — until, on my way between bullets seven and eight, my back tire exploded. With Zach in the backseat, I pulled onto the shoulder, traffic screaming by on the highway, and walked around to assess the damage. I really wish I had a picture to show you. I’ve never seen a tire shredded quite like this. 

And then something amazing happened: I stayed calm.

I am never a calm person! Hyper, creative, stressed, crazed, energetic, annoying … yes. Calm? Hardly ever. It takes a really good book and a long stretch of beach to make me calm. The side of the highway with a flat and a tight schedule? Not so calming. Yet I was. Weird – right?

And then something else happened: God sent me an angel.

I called Mom to let her know I wouldn’t make it. “Please go ahead without me. I’ll call as soon as I get this fixed.” Then I called AAA, fully anticipating a 2-hour wait. Good thing I packed videos – right? As I listened to hold music, a truck pulled over in front of me. Immediately all the horror stories of a million email forwards flashed in my mind. Woman raped by man pretending to be police. Mother and child slaughtered on side of the road by crazed highway worker. Family kidnapped; never seen again. Only the shell of a minivan remained. I’ve got a pretty good memory and a vivid imagination. In spite of these, I stayed calm. (!!) I prepared to tell the man, now walking toward us, that everything was fine and AAA would be there soon. But as he got closer, something told me to trust him, that it would be okay. I slowly rolled down the passenger window. Within fifteen minutes, Zach and I were back on the road, safe and sound.

I thanked the man profusely. I tried to give him my card. I didn’t have any cash on me, but if he would email me, I’d be happy to compensate him for his time and kindness. He wouldn’t take it. He refused to even shake my hand. He simply said I looked like I needed some help.

I gotta tell you: This does NOT happen on the east coast! At least not around here. Those scary forwards originate here!

To make the situation even more bizarre: another woman pulled over in front of this guy’s truck, a woman travelling all alone. She had some furniture tied to the back of her station wagon and wondered if he would check the ropes to make sure they were tight enough. The guy didn’t even hesitate! It was like he had nowhere to go (unlikely!) and nothing to do (impossible!) but drive around and help people. He seemed so purposeful, so unhindered, I asked him if this was his job. (He did have a reflective vest in the back of his truck.) “No. Just wanted to help.”

Have you ever met an angel in disguise? I’m convinced he was one. He even had wings tatooed on his arm.

“For he will order his angels
      to protect you wherever you go.”
- Psalm 91:11 (NLT)

What could have been a terrible day, turned into a fantastic one. I even made it to Ellie’s Easter party, a few minutes late, but still made it. Isn’t God good? I love surprises. Especially ones like this.