Part 6: Providence in a Parking Lot

There are moments in life that stop you cold — not because something went wrong, but because something went so right that you can't explain it any other way except grace.

It was the middle of a summer heatwave. Amy and I were on the road with our two dogs, the car packed so tightly with a scaffolding set we'd bought for a ceiling project that our seats were pushed all the way forward — Amy's chest nearly touching the steering wheel. Comfortable? Not even close. But we were moving, we were making progress, and that's what mattered.

Then, all at once, the AC cut out. The battery light blinked on. And then the power steering went. Amy stayed calm — the kind of calm that only comes from someone who has learned to trust the process — and as the car rolled to a stop, we coasted off an exit ramp and came to rest directly in front of our local electric company, BREC.

We sat there for a moment, stunned. The dogs were already feeling the heat. The parking lot stretched out in every direction — wide, flat, and blazing. And then we noticed a work crew nearby, installing fiber optic cable along the road.

One man from that crew walked over to us.

He told us he was working for his dad that day — just helping out — but that he ran his own mobile mechanics business. He wanted to help.

We looked at each other. What? Of all the exits on that highway. Of all the parking lots in that town...

While Mike got to work, I gathered the dogs and a blanket and found the one tree in that entire massive parking lot — just one — and we settled underneath it. I sat there quietly, thanking God for putting Mike in our path, feeling like he had been plunked down in that BREC parking lot straight from heaven.

And then, as if on cue, a BREC employee appeared. He was carrying bottled water and a bowl for the dogs. He handed them to me without a word, gave a small nod, and walked away.

Another angel.

Within an hour, Mike had driven to the local auto parts store, bought a new belt, installed it, jumped the car, and had us back on the road — charging us next to nothing for what felt like everything.

Amy and I pulled back onto the highway, looked at each other, and just shook our heads. Big smiles. Full hearts. We talked the whole way home about something we've felt since the very beginning of this journey — that we are protected. That everything had to align that day for it to go the way it did. 

We were reminded that day that the path always has a way of showing up. Not always smoothly or comfortably. Sometimes your chest is touching the steering wheel and the AC just died and you're in a parking lot in the middle of a heatwave wondering what comes next. But the resources appear. The right people show up. The one tree in the parking lot is exactly where you need it to be.

We didn't plan for Mike. We didn't plan for the BREC employee with the water bowl. We didn't plan for any of it. But we were moving — we were in motion, doing the work, hauling scaffolding toward a dream — and because we were moving, grace had somewhere to meet us.

Dream big. The resources will come.

If you need a mobile mechanic, Mike is the best!