Last week, I had the terrifying privilege of trying to change a flat tire on Southbound I-25 near Denver, CO. With each pass of a semi truck or vehicle, the wind buffeted the car while I fetched out the spare tire and jacked up the car for the first time in my memory. I needed to look at the owner’s manual to even understand where the spare tire was on the vehicle. I also think it is the first time in perhaps 15 years that I have had to change a tire and, I am thankfully still alive.
Driving to the tire shop, I arrived — discouraged with the setback, but grateful no harm and no further damage other than the tire. I sat in with the tire shop employee. We looked at the similar tires to replace with. I asked him, “When were the tires purchased?”
“May, 2012. It was with 196,000 miles on the car. How many miles do you have now?”
“295,500”
“Wow! I have never seen that. These tires are rated for 60,000 miles.”
“I think God had something to do with it,” I replied.
As I sat waiting for the tires to be put on the car, I couldn’t help but constantly give God praise. 100,000 miles. God’s faithfulness over those miles — no accidents, no scratches, and it took an I-25 bolt puncture to take down my tire and literally force me into new ones (to be honest, I feel I could have gotten through maybe one more winter with them).
I later overheard the shop sales guy telling the technician — “Can you believe this? This guy got 100k miles on these tires!”
The longer that I am on this faith journey with God, it is more and more the testimony of His faithfulness to us. Some people pray for the better job, the better home, more resources or means. But in my experience, God does this amazing thing for His people — where the treads on the tires last longer, the insurance premiums are low because the family is healthy, and more and more examples.
Now don’t get me wrong — I am not espousing a “health and wealth” gospel here. I am not saying, “If you just have enough faith…” or “If you are good enough….” But what I am saying is the ways that I have seen God be faithful to me and to my family, even in the midst of our need. It reminds me of God’s faithfulness to the people of Israel in the midst of their wilderness wanderings. In Deuteronomy 29:5, God reminds them,
During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.
The Lord God, speaking to the people through Moses
I don’t wear sandals much. But, tires, well that’s a different story.
It’s not just the tires, though — I have seen God make a lot of things “last” longer for me and my family — clothing, jackets, shoes, furnaces, hot water heaters, and more. And I can’t explain it. I can’t sit here and tell you that my faith is better or stronger. I can’t say that I am less sinful. I can’t say that I am more honored by God than any one else. All I can say is, “He (God) is faithful, even when I am not. Praise be to God!”
Praise God that His faithfulness is not dependent upon my own.
Praise God that He takes care of His people.
Praise God that He is so good to me.
Praise God for 100,000 miles (and more) of faithfulness.
Blessings,
