Roadside Assistance

By Joan Beck, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

The sun was just coming up when I headed out to work last May at 6 a.m. as an administrator for the federal Farm Service Agency in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Not quite dark, but dark enough to need my headlights. I turned onto one of the lonely, rural country roads that dot our county.

Maybe it was because I was listening to the radio, maybe it was because I was already thinking about some projects at work, but I didn’t spot the dark object in the road until it was too late. I ran over it and felt the back left tire pull, and then sag. I steered to the apron of the two-lane road and stopped.
I got out of the car. No mystery here—my left rear was sliced like a loaf of bread. Back 50 yards was a piece of scrap iron I’d run over.

I’ve never changed a tire. I peered up the road. Not a car in either direction. The nearest service station was miles away. I threw up my hands.

Then I remembered—my cell phone! I powered it up before realizing, I don’t know who to call. “Lord,” I need your help,” I prayed.

Wouldn’t you know it, I spotted a car coming from the opposite direction. The driver slowed as he approached. I guess he could see I was in trouble. He stopped his car, got out and immediately saw the trouble. “M’am, would you like me to change that tire for you?” he asked.

The man couldn’t have been more friendly. I was so frightened out there and he put me completely at ease. “There,” he said, after putting on the spare, “You’re all set to go.”

“Good thing for me that you were driving this way,” I told him, as I climbed back into my car.

“Funny you should say that,” he said. “Just like you, I was headed to work, but my job’s in the opposite direction. I made a wrong turn at some point. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Then he looked at me and smiled. “I guess this is the real job the Lord had in mind for me today."