We’re jamming to my “peppy pop road trip playlist” making our way through Tennessee into Arkansas. Shannon is riding shotgun with two G squad ladies in the back. We have almost an hour and a half until we reach Little Rock; we’ve made good time.
“This is it! This is where we sat for an hour on the interstate on the way to training camp” said Shannon. A semi truck had caught on fire and traffic was stopped going both directions. “Nothing is going to stop us now” we said.
Within seconds we came upon construction and came to a complete stop. Oh the irony.
I’m busy dancing to some 1D song or something when Kelsey yells from the back seat, “Did your car die?” Lo and behold my engine was no longer running. I tried without success to start it back up so we pushed the car off the road.
I called my dad and got his advice. I always say, “Who needs Google when you have my mum and dad?” Thankfully a cop car that had been watching traffic drove up and yelled to me across the highway asking if there was a problem. I yelled back at him and then he told me to stay in the car and he’d get a tow truck.
Soon roadside assistance came. I popped the hood and he showed me that my spark plugs had come completely off. An easy fix praise the Lord. To be safe he said he would follow me to the next exit to make sure everything checked out.
So we drove without any problems and checked under the hood again. Everything looked good. Things seemed to be wrapping up and we were good to go when Shannon says, “Man I was really hoping to get to ride in the cop car.” Our roadside assister informed us that a tow truck was on his way so if we wanted we could tow my car and ride with them (for free, thank you Arkansas state government). The other girls unanimously agreed that we should so I went along with it happily. We all piled in to the nice man’s air conditioned truck and followed the tow truck with my perfectly working car to a nearby gas station.
On the ride there we learned a few things about our rescuer. His name is Terry and he is a former navy seal turned army soldier, firefighter, former ambulance driver, and part-time roadside assistant. Us girls were super gung-ho about making this situation as awesome as possible so we put on his fireman hats and took a picture in his truck.
Then we got to the gas station and convinced Terry the soldier/firefighter/ambulance driver/hero to let us put on his hats again and his firefighting jackets, AND Shannon had the nerve to jokingly tell him he should put on her green tutu to take a picture with us. To our surprise he was willing to go along with it. PROOF:
Meeting Terry was definitely the strawberry of our day (aka the best moment). Not only was Terry a hero in his profession but a hero at home. We found out that Terry works 70-80hours a week because he has five pre-teen to teen kids that he raises at his house by himself, two of which are not even his biological children. Before saying goodbye we asked if we could pray for him and he said yes, and asked to pray for us as well. How cool is that?! So we prayed and I started my car. It died again.
But thankfully he had just reversed the spark plugs the first time so he put them on correctly and we were good to go, for REAL. He followed us on the highway 8 miles just to be sure. We waved our goodbyes and that was most likely the last time we will ever see our knight in shining tutu.
God turns tragedies into comedies and celebrations if you have the heart to laugh through them. We lost an hour and a half of drive time and got home a lot later than we wanted. But it was worth it. We told Terry who we were and told him about the World Race. Whether he reads our blogs or not we hope he was encouraged this day. Even though his jobs frequently prevent him from attending church we pray he continues to turn to the Lord for guidance and strength.
One thing I learned at training camp is to keep your eyes open to what God wants to do in me and through me on the race. Together the four of us girls were aware to this opportunity we had to speak into someone’s life. And we didn’t have to wait until July when we’re on the mission field. We are on a mission field now and we don’t have to wait.
I challenge you to pray that God opens your eyes to every divine opportunity He has for you no matter where you are.
Finally, I need your help! Training camp was amazing and excited me beyond measure to spend the next year serving the Lord with my team and my squad. However, I am still $2500 short of my next deadline which I need in order to launch in July with them! Please prayerfully consider a donation my way. You can click “support me” on this page to make an online donation. Any amount helps. I have just two weeks left before the deadline is up.
Thanks for reading and all of your support!
