We owned a Ford Torino and no, it wasn't the cool one that Starsky & Hutch drove. It was actually an orange color without that white Nike-like stripe. Crammed into sedan were six of us. The only male was my little brother who was just six years old. The route we took was North on Hwy 19 & 27 up the west coast of the peninsula. In those days there, there were stretches of 30-50 miles of nothing ... no stores, gas stations or homes. It was just miles and miles of timberland.
It was in one of those deserted stretches between crossroads that God become very real to me and how He works in this world. I have always believed and knew that miracles happen, but today, I would see for myself just how real.
The music was playing loud and we were all singing and laughing. Periods of rain and sun seemed to be the pattern that day. Then, after one real heavy down pour, we heard thump, thump, thump, thump. Mom turned down the music and we all got quiet.
"Awe, we have a flat tire," mom said. "Geez, this isn't a great place to pull off." The shoulder of the road was very steep and the wet earth made it even more dangerous. Mom and my aunt weren't worried about changing the tire because both of them were experienced tire changers.
"Everyone out of the car," she said. "Go stand down there away from the car while we get this tire changed." All of us kids walked down the shoulder to a flatter area and were well away from the car. As my mom and aunt unloaded the completed stuffed trunk, the kids stood there talking about what they were doing and how there were no cars to be seen.
Growing up in Florida, we were familiar with mist that rises off the hot pavement causing clothes to stick to your body and obscuring the distance through the haze. On this day, it created an ethereal feeling as we stood watching the scene unfold in front of us.
My aunt had placed the jack just in front of the rear passenger tire and began raising the car to release the tire. As the car was getting higher and higher, I began to notice that the car seemed to be leaning. Mom stood just behind my aunt, down the shoulder a bit. I remember thinking that didn't seem too safe but what were we to do. We couldn't walk to a station for help, there were no cars coming by and of course, no cell-phones because they were at least a decade away.
I started looking around for other cars but there were none. In that moment, a station wagon came up from behind us, out of the mist. It flew by us and slid to a stop just in front of our car and from that car came five of the largest African-American men I had ever seen. When I say large, I mean Michael Clarke Duncan big! They were dressed in overalls and some in ball caps and others with bandannas on their heads. To this day, I don't know how they unfolded from that car so fast. In an instant, they were running towards my mom and aunt. All of us kids were in shock. "What do we do, what will they do," raced through my mind.
They said not a word as three of them ran to the side of the car turning their back to the fender and grabbing the car frame from behind just as the car began falling. The other two men moved my mom and aunt away from the car while taking the tire tool, removing the tire and replacing the new one.
Mom was standing in sheer shock as the realization of what almost happened in the seconds before. What could have happened ran through my mind. If they had not arrived at that very moment, my aunt and mom would have been crushed by that car leaving us kids on the side of a road in the middle of no-where.
"Can I pay you, please take some money for your help, " Mom said. "Thank you so much." They shook their heads while making their way back to their beat-up old station wagon. We stood there as they closed their doors and they drove off into the mist in which they came. No words, no sounds.
As we repacked our car, I watched as their taillights disappeared into the distance. Where had they came from and how did they have such great timing. I knew in that moment that God sends angels to help people in times of trouble. Now, I don't know if those men were of this world or truly heavenly beings but I do know now that angels come in all shapes and sizes.
I have always wanted to commission a painting with those men holding that car complete with their angel wings because that's how I see them as I remember them today. They were opposite of all the angel depictions I had ever seen even to this day. The lesson I learned was that angels come when we least expect them and their timing is perfect. I don't like to think about how that day could have played out but instead cherish the miracle that it was ... a great lesson, indeed.
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