I now know that green fluid leaking from a car engine is antifreeze!
My car getting loaded onto the bed of the tow truck.
To continue the story, I had a nice chat with my tow truck rescuer on the way back to Exit 42. (I broke down about EB Mile 46, but had made it to 47.) There was still a bit of traffic (the policeman had said it wouldn't clear till 10 or 11 at night) so it took a bit longer than it normally would have. Interesting note, those turnarounds that are marked for emergency vehicles only can also be used by tow trucks. I hadn't known that before, but we put our lights on and got to utilize one of them (I was thankful to not have to wait for a while longer till the next exit came up!). Anyway, my next blessing was that the tow truck guy said he would only charge me for an hour, although it went a bit over that when everything was said and done. He took me to the garage where we left my car, and then he drove me up to the top of the hill to the one motel at the exit where I was able to get a nice $49.05 room to spend the night.
But my story's not done yet. God had a few more blessings in store for me! I walked down the hill and waited in my car till people showed up at the garage Friday morning. I had watched one truck pull in, but as the guy didn't get out, I figured he must not work there. He plays a part in my blessings though. Finally, another truck pulls in and parks closer to the garage. I went over and found out this guy worked at the garage, and he promised they would come take a look at my car once they got things opened up. They said I could go sit in the office while I waited, and I ended up chatting with the owner of the first truck who'd pulled into the parking lot that morning. He was getting new shocks on his truck, so while we waited, I ended up telling him I was on my way back from an interview with a mission board, and that I planned to go live in Honduras. I knew he had to have been in Honduras before, when he responded, "Where in Honduras?" I found out he had married a Honduran lady, and his daughter was living in Honduras right now. It's a small world, after all...
This gentleman was a blessing to me in a couple ways. He asked the mechanic if he could borrow a car and then drove me back up to the motel to check out and grab my bags so I wouldn't have to lug everything back down the hill. Then he and the mechanic treated me to lunch at the family restaurant across the street at the truck stop. Talk about overwhelming - God brought several people across my path who treated me so kindly throughout my break-down, and it was just so cool to see how God was not only looking out for me but showing me so much grace.
I had found out after a bit that my radiator was leaking from both the top and the bottom, so the guys working on my car had calls in to different parts stores to get me a new radiator and thermostat, since my car had over heated. They ended up getting the parts in by noon, and I had paid up and was on the road by 1 PM. That was another blessing. I may not have gotten back in time for work, but I actually had my car fixed in four hours; to get everything fixed so quickly and not have to leave the car there and drive all the way back to pick it up after a few days was better than I could've planned. Like I've been saying, my God is so good!
God's path is perfect. I think of how flustered and panicked I would have been if I had broken down on my way to my interview, but God planned this little detour for on the way back, when I had just been recounting everything I believed about God - and been reminded of how the facts I know about God connect back and apply to me and my life. Wow! And so I had to post the story - in detail - because as I've said before, "I want to remember that God's path is perfect, even when it isn't straight, flat, easy or how I would have planned it."
