Rod and I sure had an amazing weekend in Heber City with Rod’s
siblings and their spouses! That’s the
succinct version. More details about
that later, but I have to detail what happened as we drove back to St.
George this afternoon.
To preface: our horse truck (a Ford F150) has been
limping along for the past couple of months, needing a $600 repair replacing
the steering column that will no longer shift into park. It has to be in neutral to start it; I have to guess where reverse and drive are
because nothing lines up anymore.
Thursday, Nat and I took her horse to the vet because he had
bashed his leg pretty badly. Well, the
truck wouldn’t turn off at the vet’s…no matter what I tried…so it idled the
whole time the vet was working on the horse.
Then we took the horse to the automotive shop we go to, and one of the
guys taught me how to remove the distributor cap (carefully, so as not to get
shocked!), and to take off the battery cable so it wouldn’t be drained. We then took Rowdy back to the corrals, dropped
the trailer there, and I took the truck back, deciding we just better bite the
bullet and replace the steering column.
And the next morning Rod and I left for Heber.
(While up there I looked at KSL Classifieds and Craigs List,
thinking I might come across a replacement truck. I found a possibility in Toquerville and the guy would come down to $3000…we’d stop by on our return trip to look at it.)
When we started our homeward trek, I decided that we didn’t
even need to stop and look at the potential replacement because I felt strongly impressed that we should go into debt for it. We should just make minimal repairs and start
saving for another truck. While we were driving, I called the shop and they
hadn’t been able to locate a replacement steering column, so I told them to go
ahead with the key mechanism replacement for $150. At least it would keep the truck useable for
horseback riding.
As Rod and I were getting close to home, driving up the steep hill
by Leeds, we noticed a truck pulled onto the shoulder…and a little ways ahead a
man was walking…in the rain! So we
pulled over, backed up, and gave him a ride to the Conoco station at Coral Canyon where he got
some gas and we drove him back to his truck.
As we were driving, I asked about his truck. When he mentioned it was an F250 I felt
prompted to tell him “my truck story.”
When I finished he said, “I have a steering column for an F150, 1994
that will work in a 1993.” Dad and I
were both dumbfounded. I called the shop
and asked if they had done the work on the ignition yet. They hadn’t, so I told them, “Don’t do
anything! I might have a steering
column. I’ll call you back!”
I asked Alan how much he would charge for the part, and he
replied after a thoughtful few seconds, “Oh, how about…a ride to get some gas?” I’m not quite sure how many times I asked
him, “Are you kidding???” but it finally got through to us that he was making
us a very generous offer for our helping him out. After dropping him off at his truck and getting directions to his place in Logandale, I called our auto shop and told them the situation, asking how much it would cost to install the steering column. Lonnie looked up the rates and told me, "It will cost $150." Exactly what I was going to pay just to repair the key mechanism!!
Driving to Logandale gave me time to contemplate how VERY AWARE our Heavenly Father is of our
needs, and He has amazing ways of blessing us when we’re doing everything in our
power to do what He wants us to do!! Rod and I are grateful to Him!!
