Skateparcation Across the Nation: Tuesday January 5, 2021 Flat Tire Anyone????

Asher went with me on my run today. We had a great time talking and laughing.

Today our plan was to go Pinnacle Mountain State Park. There are a lot of trails to hike on there. Pinnacle Mountain is a really high hill that you can climb and see Little Rock from way up high. I was super excited to go play today. The weather has been so beautiful as well. Today was our last sunny day. Tomorrow it's going to be cloudy and rainy so I planned the hiking for today!!

Pinnacle Mountain State Park | Arkansas State Parks

The kids packed up their backpacks with water and food and we were off toward Pinnacle Mountain!!! Then. . . all of a sudden. . . . my tire gage went off. We were loosing tire pressure and fast. I knew immediately that we had a flat tire :(. As I looked for a safe place to pull over, I saw a gas station right off of the next exit. It was very easy to pull into the gas station. (It was this point that Pepper told me later, that she said a prayer for us). I found the air machine and pulled the truck right up to it. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Scotty was back at the trailer working and I was about 20 miles away.

Graham and I got out of the truck to see the damage. Yup, the tire was completely flat. We both looked at each other as if to exchange thoughts of "what are we going to do now"? Not even 20 seconds later, this guy got out of his truck and asked us if our truck was OK. Graham and I told him that we had a flat. He walked over and said, "I can fix it, I was a car mechanic for 20 years, now I'm in the fire department here". You can imagine how we felt. SERIOUSLY!!!! Here I was, in a place that I didn't know, with my four children and a flat tire. Heavenly Father sent us someone that we could trust in our time of need.

Please meet Steven Culp. Our 5th angel of the trip.

Steven told me that he decided to pull up to the gas station to try to get his phone to work. He said that one minute later I pulled up and he knew he needed to help me. He wasn't just some guy who knew how to fix flats, he was a car mechanic and a fire man who knew everyone in this town (which came in handy). Graham and I pulled out our flat repair kit and he went to work. We could have changed the tire and put the spare on it, but the flat one was the inside tire and neither of us wanted to mess with that. Steven plugged the hole (and got dirty laying on the ground) and then was ready to put air in the tire. During this whole process, the owner of the gas station knew Steven and he told her that we were from California and that we had a flat. She invited us all in to get a free drink. She was so kind and wonderful.

Once the tire was plugged, we needed to add air. The problem then was that the air compressor at the gas station wasn't strong enough. Right as we realized that, a friend of Steven came by and said that his shop down the road had a heavy duty air compressor that we could use. So I carefully drove down to put air in the tire. Once we had air in the tire, we were good to go. Unfortunately, it was too late and we weren't able to go play at Pinnacle Mountain :(. We did get to go see a bridge that was close. Then we had to head home for Asher's math call.

I asked Steven if I could buy him lunch or do something to say thank you to him. Do you know what his response was??? He said, "Just pay it forward". He then explained that his life was one of service because that was the only thing that made him happy. He also explained that he had actually died before and was brought back. He learned through that experience that God, service and family were the only important things in life.

I have to take a side step right now. How merciful is our God to send one of his sons to my rescue who exuded the love of Christ. Steven shared God's love with me and he reminded me of what is most important especially during 2020 and all the election stuff. I have given countless "Thank you" prayers for the experience. I have made a goal to be like Steven. I hope to serve at all times.