On December 30, 2008, Ryan and I started driving from North Carolina to visit Ryan's brother in Florida. We expected the trip to take about eight hours. But instead we had some setbacks. First there was a terrible accident near Savannah, Georgia that completely stopped several miles of freeway traffic for three hours. Then we stopped to get some gas and accidentally drove over a bunch of junk in the road that we couldn't see until it was too late because it was dark. A few minutes later the left front tire was sounding funny, and when Ryan stopped and looked he found that there was a bolt in the tire and the tire was leaking air. At this point it was quite late, so we knew the places that could repair it were probably all closed. We didn't know what to do. If we couldn't get the tire fixed we would be stuck all night.
We pulled into a gas station thinking we would put the spare tire on. Then Ryan had an impression from the Holy Ghost that he should go into the gas station and ask if there was a place that could fix our tire. It seemed silly to even ask because it was so late, but he decided to follow the prompting. The assistant manager at the gas station didn't know of any place, so Ryan asked where we could change the tire to the spare without starting a fire and we went outside and started getting ready to change the tire. But before we'd even pulled everything out somebody drove by and told us about a Pilot station that could put the spare tire on for us. He had heard Ryan talking to the assistant manager inside the gas station. At the Pilot station it turned out that they actually had the tools to pull the bolt out of the tire and patch it up, and instead of charging us the manager just told us to tip the other worker.
We didn't get to Jared and Kristi's house until 1 a.m., but we were very grateful that through the guidance of the Holy Ghost we had been able to get our tire fixed and we weren't stuck. It's an experience that we've drawn on several times over the years as a reminder that God is aware of us and will guide and direct us on our journey through life.
As I've reflected on that experience it's been interesting how it parallels our current situation. Ryan's been applying for postdocs since last fall. We had a verbal offer for a job in February but it got retracted because of some budget problem at that university (a bolt in our tire). It feels like it's getting late and we might be stuck. But we have felt several times that God has a plan for us, so we are trying to continue to put our faith in him that he will guide us and help us meet the right people so that we can move forward.
1 comment:
We have been very concerned and are also fasting and praying for you. We love you
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