Shortgrass
Well-known member
Over 30 years ago I was driving a truck for Weaver Brothers out of Kenai Alaska. I was a young man with just enough experience to be dangerous! I have no doubt that I was a Christian and knew God. But the God that I knew would be there to help you out if you were in a real bind. If big troubles befell you, all you had to do was holler, and God would show up from somewhere and help you through your troubles. I went to church pretty regular, and always put some money in the offering plate. Well, at the time of this story, I had had a few days off, and plenty of hours to drive, and, as always, a little short on cash. The dispatcher told me he had a load of hot oil (asphalt) to go to Anchorage, and his asphalt driver was out of hours; did I want the load? I was quick to jump on it. My assigned unit was a fifth wheel tractor, and so I would need to drive a body tank with a pup. I had reached Cooper Landing when I discovered a flat. I singled the rear dual out and limped on. At Summit Lake I noticed the front axle of the pup had a flat tire. I singled that out also, and gingerly proceeded. As I descended Hope Hill (we called it that because the cutoff to the small Alaskan village of Hope was at the base of the hill) I noticed that the singled out wheel on steering axle of the pup was wobbling. I pulled off at a good wide turn out that “luckily” was very near. I discovered a broken wheel. Well, with two flats and a broken wheel, all limping was over. I would have to drop the pup (this was in the pre-cell phone era) and go to Anchorage to get tires and return for the pup. As I got out of the truck, I felt a strong urge to pray, but after all if a trucker can’t handle this simple task, he needs other work! I blocked the pup unit real well as the hill is pretty steep. I unhooked air lines, unplugged the pigtail, and opened the pintle hook and raised the tongue. As I started to pull the body tank away, something stopped me. Darn! I forgot to take the safety cable loose. As I reached for my tools, I realized that I had left my box of tools in my assigned unit, and I did not have a wrench or any sign of tools in this unit. The cable had a clevis hook that required a 9/16 wrench. Again as I got out of the truck I felt the urge to pray, and again I reasoned that I could do this and wouldn’t need to “bother” God with such a trivial matter. This seems so foolish now, and it is, but at the time, it seemed very logical. I began flagging down traffic, and it was not real plentiful there at that time. No one seemed to have even a Cresent wrench. After about an hour, and the third car, a lady assured me that she had one in the back of her tightly packed station wagon. We unloaded it, only to discover a lug wrench for her car! As I reloaded her vehicle, she did produce a pair of vise grips from the glove box, and it worked! At last I was free to leave the pup and go on to Anchor town. The lady had left, and I thought I was all alone on the Hope hill, but another was present. As I went to mount the unit, I looked on the ground, and there in the gravel was a rust speckled 9/16 wrench! Had I obeyed the urge to pray for God’s help either time, I would have spotted that wrench by virtue of bowing my head. Now, I heard no audible sound, but as I picked that rusty wrench up I heard the thoughts of my mind as if it was God telling me “I was here all the time, why would you not turn to Me? As I lifted my eyes to gaze through an opening in the clouds to a beautiful Alaskan sky, I saw a vision of a God that was very involved in my life. He had caused someone to lose the exact wrench at the exact place where I would need it. He had scheduled every event of my life in minute details ( why me with hours, the other driver out of hours, different unit, forgotten tools - on and on). I was no “bother” to Him, nor did I need to call for Him to come. He was and is here with me; I had spurned Him so many times. I met Hope on Hope Hill. I have Hope upon Hope to this day, and He is more precious than ever. That was a life changing event, and I have been much closer to Him since. Well, thanks for letting me unload this story - sorry it is so long, and have a Good Sunday mornin’…..