More than Just a Flat Tire

By Charlotte Lowrie

Soon after I finished reading the Old Testament, I began thinking about the many times that God commanded the Israelites to keep the Sabbath holy. A typical Sunday for me was church, and some work or catching up around the house. But as I thought about what I read in the Bible, I finally decided that I should make Sunday a day of rest and celebration of the Lord.

Of course, immediately after making the commitment, my workload increased. One Sunday afternoon, I felt the need to go out to do some photography. I had two projects that required new sports images. But then, I thought about my commitment to not work on Sunday, and I nixed the idea of going out to shoot. But, still, there was a seriously strong urge to go out anyway.

Finally, I gave in and drove to a local park where I could capture different types of action images. I shot pictures for about an hour, but the pictures were lousy. The day was hot, I was frustrated, and, what’s worse, I had broken my commitment to not work on Sunday.

As I walked back to the truck, I saw that a tire on my truck was almost flat. I remembered the clicking sound that I’d heard for the past several weeks while I was driving. I thought that a rock was embedded in the tire tread and assumed that it would eventually throw itself out. Clearly, I was wrong.

I drove slowly to the nearest gas station and pulled up to the air compressor. I got out of the truck and could see a huge, metal bolt embedded in the tire. In fact, the tire had stopped so that the bolt was precisely at the top of the tire—there was no way that I could miss seeing it. I put air in the tire, and then drove home slowly. On the drive home, the constant clicking sounded twice as loud as before.

About halfway home, it hit me—the restless feeling I to go out shooting was the Lord’s way of getting my attention. I realized that I had been driving on the bad tire for weeks at highway speeds without the tire losing air pressure. The Lord sent me out that Sunday so that I’d finally see that the tire was about to fail. The next day, I bought a new tire.

I think about how much work the Lord went through to get my attention, and I’m thankful that He didn’t give up on me. I still do not work on Sundays, but I also pay careful attention to restless urges—just in case the Lord is trying to get my attention.