The Invisible Life Saver

My fiancé Raymond was driving my SUV down the interstate highway at the speed limit when our right front wheel fell off. It flew high up into the air, and then bounced somewhere into a deep canyon on the right side of the narrow mountain road. Our Ford Explorer was headed for the dangerous sharp left curve ahead. Sparks flew as we careened out of control. Raymond and I looked at each other, thinking we were doomed. Then, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Somehow, our vehicle was lifted up miraculously and then set down gently exactly in a one-car-length parking space on the otherwise shoulder-less mountain road. We came to a peaceful, silent halt.

We sat there looking at each other in shock. How did we go from sure death to a safe stop? We gathered ourselves and prayed together. “Thank you, God, for saving us. Now, can you please find our tire?” The canyon must have been fifty feet deep with nothing but huge, immovable rocks as far as the eye could see. It was an amazing view, but a very difficult hike. How on earth would we get our lost wheel back in this rocky mountain canyon?

I told Raymond I would pray for direction. “Dear God, please help him find our wheel,” I pleaded. Even if he did find it, which seemed impossible, how would he get it back to the car? He wouldn’t be able to roll it up that steep incline covered with jagged rocks. I prayed as Raymond climbed down the steep slope, walked about thirty yards, and went directly to the runaway wheel behind a giant boulder. Raymond hoisted it up on his wide shoulders and carried it back. I was dumbfounded. The wheel was not at all visible from where we had been standing on the highway. Yet he walked right to it.

Our prayers had been answered. Raymond was an auto mechanic, so he quickly removed one lug nut from each of the remaining three wheels and used them to secure the fourth wheel onto the front of our car. Then we continued our long drive to Phoenix to visit my beloved daughter, grateful for the help we received. We even arrived on time. —Carolyn Jaynes

A true story from Chicken Soup for the Soul - Angels All Around, page 224 by Carolyn Jaynes, M.A