By Ray Gano
Wow, what a weekend.
Wow, what a weekend.
Tracye and I were running our errands and our car started making a strange noise. It would make it then stop, then make it again.
While sitting at a light waiting for it to turn green, all of a sudden I feel the car struggle and I tapped the gas to help it not die. See, I was already concerned and knew something was wrong.
After tapping the gas all of a sudden a huge puff of smoke comes out from under the hood and I am instantly praying "dear God please do not let our car die."
Well the light changed and we were able to get it to the Walmart parking lot where all of a sudden I heard a flapping noise and my power steering went out.
We drove to find a parking spot, stopped and I checked under the hood.
Great… our serpentine belt broke. For those who do not know, the serpentine belt is that big belt the runs all those wheels at the front of the engine. Power steering, power brakes, water pump, alternator, etc, etc.
I thought that maybe I could drive it to the repair guy we use, but we got 100 yards and it started to overheat. I instantly parked it in the shade and cut the engine.
We were stuck.
Phoned home and arranged to have our son with his truck come get us and tow us to the repair yard.
The fact that our son lives in Louisiana was a huge surprise to us seeing him pull up. I literally was thanking God that he came. Our daughter told us that one of her 16 year old friends was coming to tow us and my confidence level in that was not the greatest.
We got the car towed to the yard and left it with the mechanic.
We go home and all decide to go out to dinner with our visiting son.
We go to lock the car door and my daughter yells…STOP!!!
Why?
Daughter - "Well I can't open my door with a key anymore."
Me - "why didn't you tell us about this?"
Daughter - "I did about 3 weeks ago, remember you just got back from the store and you were unloading the stuff when I told you. I just got home also."
Me - " I was not paying attention and did not hear you."
So there we are about to go eat and we can't get back in the car.
Wonderful thing is that a kind woman who just pulled up happened to have a wire coat hanger. So my son and I jimmied the lock and about 20 minutes later we were able to get the car unlocked.
Good, now lets go eat.
We had a wonderful dinner and said our goodbyes. Our son had to get to Houston so that they could make Louisiana the next day.
So we headed home driving my daughter's car (1995 Buick Century) from the restaurant and all of a sudden the transmission is slipping.
Oh great, just what we need. "Dear God, please let us get home."
We turned onto the road where we live and we made it ok. "Thank you God for seeing us home safely."
Our car is out of commission and now my daughter's car is out of commission. We are stuck and no way to get to church.
So Sunday morning I check the car and see that the transmission fluid is really low. Of course we have 4 bottles of brake fluid, one bottle of radiator fluid, even a half bottle of windshield washer fluid, but do we have any transmission fluid? Nope.
So it is off to the gas station. The car is still slipping, but the station is just a mile away. I get there and guess what. Yep, no tranny fluid at all. So I go to the next station just down the road. Same thing, no fluid.
I give Tracye a call and let her know. Wonderful thing is that she just spoke to one of our deacons at the church and he was going to get us some transmission fluid, so stay where I am.
So I went got a cup of coffee, a cinnamon roll and a beef jerky stick gave thanks and called it breakfast as I waited.
Our church deacon arrived and we poured in the fluid, well come to find out one of the hoses sprung a leak.
I was able to get home but no way to get to church. Drag because it is Missions week and we really did not want to miss it.
Wonderful thing is that our deacon friend offered to go drop off his wife and then come get us.
So praise the Lord, we were able to attend morning church and we were greatly blessed. So my daughter and our grandson as well as Tracye and I pile in and head off to church.
Because of Missions week, we also had "dinner on the grounds." And were able to have a great lunch and fellowship. Deacon Dan then took us home and planned on coming to pick us up for evening service.
5:15 PM arrives and Deacon Dan is there. Tracye and I left our daughter and grandson home because she had a dinner appointment with a friend who wanted to see our grandson and our daughter.
We arrived at church and all of a sudden Tracye is getting phone calls and text messages from our daughter.
Well, our grandson was being a typical boy and was climbing on his car seat. It flipped backwards and he reached out to a nearby table to hold on, but it did not help. She informs us that she thinks he dislocated his shoulder.
Now mind you that all these things have taken place in a matter of just 48 hours.
Normally most people would be freaking out when the first car died let alone the second, now a dislocated shoulder on a grandchild?
Well off to the ER. My daughter's friend who she was going to have dinner with was the transportation to the ER.
We checked in, and believe it or not was able to get right in.
The doctor was in to see our grandchild in about 7 minutes. Gave him the once over felt the arm and told us "it isnt the shoulder, it is the elbow. It is pretty common in kids this age. It was out of socket, but I just put it back in. Your good to go, just wait for the paperwork and you can leave."
Wow… Tracye and I looking at each other and both say "well that is the shortest ER trip we have ever had."
I wanted to share with you these last 48 hours to let you see that God is in control.
Not once were either Tracye or I freaking out, worried, concerned, we both had complete peace.
Why?
Because of our life verse that we live by…
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
For some reason Tracye and I had peace. In fact Tracye even mentioned on the way to the ER that with all that has been happening, she has not felt stressed about it at all. Neither have I come to think about it.
I jokingly asked her " what have we been doing wrong to deserve this?"
With a smile back, and she said in that loving matter of fact way a good wife does…"it's what we have been doing right. We've upset the enemy and he doesn't like it."
Bingo.
Man, I love my wife! I don't know what I would do without her. She reminds me of that one also in a very joking manner to from time to time. J
All in all we knew that God would take care of things and that everything was going to be ok because of this promise.
1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
As I write this, we still have one car in the shop that will be finished in about an hour. I can then take in the other car and have that fixed also.
In everything that has taken place, we knew God was there and He continues to be there for us. He has always provided a way and continues to do so.
God cares for us and looking back on this weekend we can clearly see God's favor upon us.
From our son showing up all the way from Louisiana, to Deacon Dan, to our daughter's friend all giving us rides. God always provided a way and there was very little stress too. His peace was upon us this weekend and because of that, we were able to minister to a very dear friend of ours and her husband who are having some very hard times.
In everything Tracye and I do, we try to apply what we call "Third Party Rule."
If I cannot deal with the issue with the tools and talents that God has given me and Tracye cannot deal with the issue either with what God has given her, the only option is the Third Party…that being Jesus Christ our Lord.
So we have learned over the years that when things are outside our control, we instantly hand them over to the Lord and He is always there to take care of things.
He will always supply for our needs and His favor is upon us when we are walking in His will.
So no matter what obstacle we are facing, God is there right by our side. It does not mean that the obstacles magically disappear, it just means that they are not as big as we thought they were. What we thought were mountains turn into minor speed bumps.
But the key to all of this is giving God the steering wheel and allowing Him to direct our path.
This is why the verse that we live by is…
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
I hope that this story ministers to you.
Nope, not your typical bible prophecy article. But the Lord put it on my heart to share with you what we went through and are still going through. So I guess that someone out there needs to hear what went on at the Gano home this weekend.
We still have one car in the shop, not sure what is completely wrong or how much and another we need to take over once the other one is fixed. See, I forgot to mention that our home phone is out and will not be working till the 20th.
See God is good and I am glad He had the foresight to have cell phones invented.
In all of this, the good news is that our grandson is running on all pistons and did not miss a beat. Crawling all over like his arm was never injured in the first place. We have a car that is repairable and another we hope that will also be repairable.
We serve the great and wonderful Jehovah Jireh, He provide our needs, and He also provides peace that only He can give.
We are living in the last days of the last days. What happens here is just a wisp of smoke in the grand scheme of things. What does a busted down car mean when compared to eternity with Him?
When we put things into an eternal perspective, all of a sudden things are not as bad as what they seem to be.
What we just need to do is turn our worries over to Him and let the creator of the universe handle it.
I pray that God continues to bless you and keep you and that His favor shines brightly upon you and your family throughout the week.
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