I had an interesting day yesterday. My client has a house that they are flipping and she was having me paint the baseboards we cut last week before they get installed. She dropped off the paint at the empty house and headed home to do her own stuff.
When I opened the paint, I called her and asked, “Did you intend for this trim to be pink?”
It turned out that Home Depot had mixed the paint incorrectly. She had given them the right name “Chantilly Lace” to mix the paint, but one brand has a bright white “Chantilly Lace” and the other brand was a very pale pink “Chantilly Lace.” She called the store who said they would correct the error and I told her I would run up to Home Depot to save her the trip.
On the way, I was driving down 725 and swerved a little bit to miss something and hit a curb which immediately blew the front passenger tire and the back tire now had a bulge in it. I am driving a friend’s car for the time being and was very happy to find that De’s spare tire was still good. I must admit that I was proud of myself at 47 years old being capable of taking the blown tire off and putting on the spare by myself. 😏
As I was tightening the bolts on the spare tire, a young man pulled up behind me, got out of his car, and asked if I needed any help. I was almost done tightening the bolts on the spare, but I was so touched he had stopped. I asked him a silly question just to engage him in conversation. “Do you know how to lower a jack? I got the car up, but I’m not sure how to release the jack?”
He knelt down to show me that you lower the jack the same way you raised it, just the opposite. He was a 17 years old junior from a local high school. I asked why he wasn’t in school on a Tuesday at noon. He explained that he and was in the work program so he was on his way to take lunch to his sister and head to work at a local ice cream shop.
Everything that he said was, “Yes ma’am,” or “No ma’am.” I was struck by his gentleness, his kindness, and his respect for me as his elder. Literally, I just wanted to cry, not because I needed his help but because with such sincerity he offered it.
He had a tattoo on his forearm that said “Grandma and Grandpa” with a big cross behind the words.
As he stood there watching me tighten the bolts I asked, “Tell me about your tattoo.” He explained that it was for his grandparents. I casually asked, “Why the cross?” because you can’t just take it for granted that it’s because they believe.
He said, “I don’t know. When I thought of getting a tattoo for them, it’s the first thought I had.”
I asked, “Did your grandparents love Jesus?”
He said, “Yes ma’am.”
I asked, “Do you love Jesus?”
He said, “Yes, ma’am.”
I said, “For the rest of your life, when anyone asks about that tattoo, you tell them, ‘I got this tattoo because my grandparents loved Jesus and so do I.’”
He said, “Yes ma’am, I will, that’s a good answer.”
I asked him to grab his phone and call his mom. Without asking a question, he obediently called her and said, “Mom there’s a lady here who wants to talk to you.”
I took the phone and asked, “Is this Thomas’s mom?” With a curious sound in her voice, she answered that it was.
I explained how I had been there for probably 20, maybe 30 minutes working on changing my tire and no one had stopped, but her son went out of his way to stop on his way to work to ask if a stranger needed help.
I explained that everything he said was “Yes ma’am,” and “No ma’am” and how polite he had been. I told her how sweet it was that this 17 year old kid just wanted to make sure that I was OK. I praised her for a job well done raising her son and she thanked me.
Perhaps I hit that curb for that encounter, and not just to avoid hitting something in the road. Perhaps that young man needed to be given permission to use the tattoo on his forearm as a testimony of his faith in Jesus Christ.
If that’s why, then it was worth slightly over $400 for two new tires and an alignment, because there is kingdom value in lessons like those.
I was blessed that I was only 2 miles from a tire shop which had the two tires I needed and the ability to fix the car right away. I was still able to pick up the paint and complete my job before having company over for dinner.
At the tire shop, I met a man at the shop who loves the LORD and is raising his niece's 4 year old son whom she abandoned at two months old because she simply didn’t want him. She kept her daughter and now has a new baby, but for whatever reason, she just didn’t want that little baby boy.
The man talked about how when he shares the story, people say they feel sorry for the little boy. He always responds, “Don’t feel sorry for this little boy. He is more loved than most people can ever hope to be.” Praise God for stories of redemption like this one!
We had a wonderful conversation about faith, family, and love!
I’m so thankful that there wasn’t one moment of frustration even with myself for my carelessness in the whole event because our God goes before us, behind us and is with us in ALL things and we have this confidence that in every single situation surrendered to His plan we can know with assurance that it will be used for HIS glory.
It’s all His to begin with! Even the car that legally belongs to my friend De.
De, this is my confession that I popped your tires and replaced them. 😂
Psalm 139:5-12
You have hedged me behind and before,
and laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high, I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.