One Good Turn


A friend told me the following:


It was late afternoon and I was driving my pickup and hauling a group of horses, on my way to a hunting expedition in a remote area. I had taken on this traveling adventure by myself, planning to meet with others when I got to the campsite. As I rounded a turn, I saw a car pulled over to the side of the road with a flat tire. The elderly woman, beside the vehicle was trying to use a jack.


I pulled over to give her some help and she seemed very grateful, thanking me again and again for stopping. We got the spare installed and soon she was on her way again. As I continued in the truck, I was congratulating myself mentally for helping her. About five minutes later the horse trailer began to shake terribly and I pulled over once more. The trailer had also developed a flat and now I was the one in trouble.


It was beginning to get dark and the horses were jittery from the jostling. I couldn’t risk taking the four horses out of the trailer for fear that they might get away from me and yet the jack for the trailer was not meant to handle the weight of four moving horses and the trailer weight as well. It was before the time of cell phones and even if I would have had a cell, in that remote area, it would probably have indicated ‘no services available.’


The road I was stuck on was seldom traveled, so the chance of someone stopping to help me was unlikely. I thought to myself, ‘God, I have just helped someone else, now I need your help. Would you please assist me?’ After that short prayer, I felt inspired to use the jack anyway. As the jack lifted the trailer, I could see that the biggest problem would be jittery horses.


They would move about and the weight was shifting from side to side. The critical point would come when I had to put the spare tire on. For only a moment, I would have the flat tire off and only the jack holding the trailer up. If the horses moved too much during that time, the jack could fall, not only causing the trailer to fall over but possibly crushing me. I began to sweat profusely.


I got the spare tire ready and tried to find something I could place under the axle to catch the trailer in case the jack slipped. A log, a big rock, anything, but despite desperate searching, I could find nothing. I decided to rely on God to help me. I got the jack just at the right height, the lug nuts ready and was ready to move. I again asked for divine help, this time to prevent my own nervousness, for I was shaking badly, even though the outside temperate was about 75F.


I let out a long slow breath and began talking softly to the horses, trying to get them to calm down as well and then gently pulled off the old tire, moving it under the axle. As quickly as I could, I then put the spare on and after a bit of adjusting got the lug bolts aligned through the spare tire hub holes. Frantically, I threaded two lug nuts into place followed by those remaining and finished properly installing the spare.


When the process was over, I began shaking again, but smiling and then dropped to my knees and thanked God profusely for his generosity in saving his unworthy servant. The horses had remained still when they needed to. Some may say that it was all a coincidence or that I got lucky or both, but I know where my strength lies and have seen it in many like situations in my life. Since then, I have often wondered, ‘What might have been the outcome if I had not helped the woman, just before, with the flat tire?’