It was the mid-1980s. My parents were driving home late one Sunday night, from an out of town visit. There were trying to hurry home before the storm hit, and they were almost there. They only had 50 or so more miles to go and they would be home.
They drove through the last decent-sized town when the weather took a turn for the worst, and it started raining very hard. They were passing through a rough neighborhood in a small town.
It was well after dark, and with the thunderstorm, upon them, the pounding rain made it difficult to see. The lightning storm lit the road occasionally, but even so, they were forced to slow down. Seeing the road was challenging to say the least, but they could drive slow and make it the rest of the way.
The thunderstorm was dumping massive amounts of rain on the highway and the lines on the roads were almost invisible. They had been driving in the storm for quite a while and were tired from the stress of it. But they were so close to home now, it wouldn’t be long and they would be home and could rest.
As they neared the last little town, the windshield wipers stopped working. The rain was so heavy that Dad could barely see the road, and now that the wipers had failed, he could see nothing at all. They quickly began looking for a place to safely pull over.
They drove up on a parking lot of a business that was closed, Dad could at least get out of the car here, to check the wipers. He was worried about what to do, as nothing in this small town was open on a Sunday night. There was not even a hotel in the little town, and there was no way to drive home in the storm. The rain was relentless, and there would be no driving until it stopped.
My Family Prays
Now, realizing the predicament they were in, my mom prayed for a solution. They knew no auto parts places were open, and it could be hours until the storm passed. But she trusted that God would provide, as He always did.
Dad got out of the car and tried to check the wipers. He wiggled them and checked them, but to no avail. He couldn’t find the problem.
He raised the hood of the car to see if he could check a fuse. As he got the hood up, a man appeared out of nowhere.
Are You Having Trouble?
The man asked my dad if he was having trouble? Dad explained to him that the wipers seemed perfectly fine and then all of a sudden they just stopped working. He explained to the man that he had no tools to even begin to work on anything.
The Stranger With a Toolbox
The stranger told him to hold on, he had a screwdriver in his car. (A car that my parents didn’t even see pull up behind them.)
The man walked back to his car and soon returned with a screwdriver.
It was so dark, that my dad couldn’t even see where to start working on the wipers, but the stranger bent over and touched something under the hood.
“Ok, get in and try it! See if they work”. So my soaking wet dad got back into the car and turned on the wipers. They worked!
He quickly turned to Mom and said, give me some cash to pay this man that helped us.
Within seconds, Mom handed Dad the cash and he got out of the car to thank the stranger. The hood was still up, but the man was gone. Dad looked all around, and there was no one. Even the stranger’s car was no longer there, but they had not seen him drive away. It was a very dark night, and any light from a vehicle would have been noticed.
The stranger and his car had disappeared. But God had provided. The windshield wipers were working.
Mom and Dad drove home and rejoiced at God answering their prayers, and they gave thanks for the stranger with a toolbox.
Psalm 91:11
For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
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