Tuesday, December 29, 2020
A GOD WINK
It was a beautiful fall day and my husband, Jack, was going with me to the Walnut Street Theatre where I usher. He was volunteering to usher that day, too. I had a meeting that morning, so we were cutting it close time-wise in getting to the theatre; and when you usher, the rule is...you are not to be late.
We got to the Schuylkill expressway and the traffic was heavy, so Jack told me “Turn right here”. I took a sharp right onto Hunting Park Avenue heading toward North Broad Street. With wheels screeching, I hit the curb.
I pulled over to the side of the road and got out to survey the damage. Yes, the front tire was flat! I got back into the car, locking the doors, as this was not a neighborhood that we were comfortable being stranded in. We were ready to call road service when a car pulled up across the street. The young girl called over asking if they could help us and give us a “jump." In my irritated state of mind I thought “jump!—can’t you see the tire is flat?”
They had gotten out of their car and started walking over to us. She was a small wiry girl and he was a HUGE man with big shoulders and lots of muscles. He asked if we had a spare tire, which we did not know if we did; but thank heaven in the back was a donut tire and a tire jack. He got to work and changed the tire in no time flat. At one point, Jack whispered to me, “He’s good, he knows what he is doing”.
So we got together all the cash we had and gave it to them (hoping they would take the cash and not our car!) They both thanked us and then he asked if we would pray with them...that they had been going through some difficult times. We prayed, holding hands, in the middle of Hunting Park Avenue.
When we started driving again to the theatre (and we did arrive on time), I said to Jack “That was no accident — that was a ‘God Wink’”. I was upset with myself that I didn’t get their names or number so that we could help them out more than we had.
I prayed about it that night and God opened my eyes to see that this was His plan, and it wasn’t necessary for us to do any more. What needed to happen, did happen! We had helped them out the best we could at that time and God had used them to open our eyes.
PRAYER: God, you are always right there in our lives giving us opportunities. I feel that on this day you gave us a situation to deal with and opened our eyes not to be so quick to judge others. You are a kind and loving teacher and we need to listen to You and follow Your teachings as best we can. Amen.
Linda Barr
