I have a miraculous story to share! It goes like this... Yesterday Michael had to drive 30 miles to work in a different clinic. When he got there, he emailed to let me know that the car was having some trouble and finally gave up the ghost as he pulled into the parking lot. Great! We just got the darn thing fixed (um, twice) and spent hundreds of dollars doing so. And now something else is wrong. Later he let me know that his manager had AAA and they could tow it 30 miles, which would just make it to the mechanic. Great! Towards the end of the day he let me know that she had checked with AAA and the fact was that they would tow it three miles. No good. In the end this is the way it shook down. She jumped started his car (I guess the alternator was dead and wasn't charging the battery), he hoped it would make it home and she followed him as far as she could before she had to turn off.
For the Bybees it wouldn't happen any other way than this: one block after she turned off, the car was acting funny and died again. Michael quickly turned into a church and tried to get into the parking lot. There was an incline to get to the parking lot, though, and the car didn't make it up. He was stuck with half of the car on the sidewalk and half in the driveway portion. On Burnside. For those that aren't familiar with Portland, Burnside is about the last place you'd want to be stuck. All sorts of shady stuff goes on on Burnside. So, Michael told us that after sitting in the car for 15 minutes, looking around and thinking about his situation, he decided to try to push it up the incline and get it parked in the parking lot. Remember, folks, we have no cell phones. Ha! Try he did, but to no avail. And here's the blessed part. A truck with a husband, wife and two teenage girls drove by and must've seen him either trying to push the car or seen that the car was stuck halfway into the driveway. They turned around, drove back and pulled up next to him. The man helped Michael push the car up into the parking lot and Michael asked to use his phone. (I guess this is going to be a semi-long story but I really want to have every detail documented for us to remember later!) Michael called and was giving me the options, including riding the train home or me stopping by Auto Zone, buying an alternator and driving it out to him. Although that didn't sound like much fun, driving 25 miles away with the three kids and waiting for him to do all this car work on Burnside, we decided that was the best plan. As Michael was giving me details of where he was, his rescuers were telling him that there was an Auto Zone just down the street that they could take him to and asking if he had a method of paying for the alternator right then. Yes and yes! Michael informed me on the phone that he had made some new friends and they were going to take him to get the alternator. As the man took out Michael's old alternator (Michael said he really did almost all of teh work), the wife called Auto Zone to make sure they had the one in stock that he needed and since there was only one, she put it on hold.
So now they've got the alternator out and they're ready to go. Everybody piles into their big, tall truck. The truck is running, ready to go. Michael throws his work bag onto the front seat because he's going to have to hoist himself in and realizes he should just grab his wallet out really quickly so he's all ready when they get there. He goes rummaging in his bag, where his wallet always is, and it's not in there. What?? No wallet. No money. Michael says, "You're not going to believe this but..." The guy then replies with, "Well, what are you waiting for? Get in." Michael is dumbfounded and the guy tells him that he knows Michael is good for the money and that they will pay for it for him. Are you seriuos?? I asked Michael how much the alternator cost (I'm completely clueless about car stuff!). NINETY dollars! $90. Nine-zero. Almost 100. And these complete strangers (oh, yes, angels) paid for it. Then they drove him back to the car and put the new one in for him. When the phone rang and it was Michael calling to let me know that it was in and he was headed home (I had no idea about what all had gone on), I feared that maybe it was his new "friends" and they were holding him ransom or something. Ha! My little mind plays through ridiculously paranoid scenarios sometimes. Well, Michael made it safely home to report all of this to us. Unbelievable.
And Evan's response was the best: "That's the most amazing story I've ever heard." He really, really was astounded. And then that sweet, perceptive little boy figured out something wonderful and said, "It's a good thing you couldn't push the car up the hill, Dad, or those people wouldn't have stopped." He was right! There would've been no reason to stop, passing a church with a car parked in a spot. And then Michael told us something that he'd skipped over when he told us the story the first time. He said that before he got out to push the car up the incline, he said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father for the strength he needed to push the car into the parking lot. What a great teaching opportunity that was for us to teach our children that our Heavenly Father is all-knowing and he cares about us so much that sometimes he doesn't answer our prayers the way we want. We reminded them that even though we may think something is good for us, Heavenly Father always knows what is the right thing for us at the time. And at that time the right thing was NOT for Michael to have the strength to push the car. Heavenly Father knew he wouldn't have been rescued by these sweet angels. It's a miraculous story, if you ask me. And it even happened on Burnside.
For the Bybees it wouldn't happen any other way than this: one block after she turned off, the car was acting funny and died again. Michael quickly turned into a church and tried to get into the parking lot. There was an incline to get to the parking lot, though, and the car didn't make it up. He was stuck with half of the car on the sidewalk and half in the driveway portion. On Burnside. For those that aren't familiar with Portland, Burnside is about the last place you'd want to be stuck. All sorts of shady stuff goes on on Burnside. So, Michael told us that after sitting in the car for 15 minutes, looking around and thinking about his situation, he decided to try to push it up the incline and get it parked in the parking lot. Remember, folks, we have no cell phones. Ha! Try he did, but to no avail. And here's the blessed part. A truck with a husband, wife and two teenage girls drove by and must've seen him either trying to push the car or seen that the car was stuck halfway into the driveway. They turned around, drove back and pulled up next to him. The man helped Michael push the car up into the parking lot and Michael asked to use his phone. (I guess this is going to be a semi-long story but I really want to have every detail documented for us to remember later!) Michael called and was giving me the options, including riding the train home or me stopping by Auto Zone, buying an alternator and driving it out to him. Although that didn't sound like much fun, driving 25 miles away with the three kids and waiting for him to do all this car work on Burnside, we decided that was the best plan. As Michael was giving me details of where he was, his rescuers were telling him that there was an Auto Zone just down the street that they could take him to and asking if he had a method of paying for the alternator right then. Yes and yes! Michael informed me on the phone that he had made some new friends and they were going to take him to get the alternator. As the man took out Michael's old alternator (Michael said he really did almost all of teh work), the wife called Auto Zone to make sure they had the one in stock that he needed and since there was only one, she put it on hold.
So now they've got the alternator out and they're ready to go. Everybody piles into their big, tall truck. The truck is running, ready to go. Michael throws his work bag onto the front seat because he's going to have to hoist himself in and realizes he should just grab his wallet out really quickly so he's all ready when they get there. He goes rummaging in his bag, where his wallet always is, and it's not in there. What?? No wallet. No money. Michael says, "You're not going to believe this but..." The guy then replies with, "Well, what are you waiting for? Get in." Michael is dumbfounded and the guy tells him that he knows Michael is good for the money and that they will pay for it for him. Are you seriuos?? I asked Michael how much the alternator cost (I'm completely clueless about car stuff!). NINETY dollars! $90. Nine-zero. Almost 100. And these complete strangers (oh, yes, angels) paid for it. Then they drove him back to the car and put the new one in for him. When the phone rang and it was Michael calling to let me know that it was in and he was headed home (I had no idea about what all had gone on), I feared that maybe it was his new "friends" and they were holding him ransom or something. Ha! My little mind plays through ridiculously paranoid scenarios sometimes. Well, Michael made it safely home to report all of this to us. Unbelievable.
And Evan's response was the best: "That's the most amazing story I've ever heard." He really, really was astounded. And then that sweet, perceptive little boy figured out something wonderful and said, "It's a good thing you couldn't push the car up the hill, Dad, or those people wouldn't have stopped." He was right! There would've been no reason to stop, passing a church with a car parked in a spot. And then Michael told us something that he'd skipped over when he told us the story the first time. He said that before he got out to push the car up the incline, he said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father for the strength he needed to push the car into the parking lot. What a great teaching opportunity that was for us to teach our children that our Heavenly Father is all-knowing and he cares about us so much that sometimes he doesn't answer our prayers the way we want. We reminded them that even though we may think something is good for us, Heavenly Father always knows what is the right thing for us at the time. And at that time the right thing was NOT for Michael to have the strength to push the car. Heavenly Father knew he wouldn't have been rescued by these sweet angels. It's a miraculous story, if you ask me. And it even happened on Burnside.
2 comments:
what an INCREDIBLE story!!! Makes me teary-eyed actually. lol. Thank you for sharing!
Wow, what an uplifting amazing story! The Lord Loves you Memory Bybee!
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