Three Angels.

I know nothing about cars; I think it’s amazing I can drive at all! The person who taught me must have been a genius! My Son asked me recently, “The foot pedals, what are they called?” I replied, “It’s ABC and I know that ‘B’ means the breaks! Then I gave it some thought and said the ‘A’ is for accelerate, the ‘C’ is for the clutch. My Brother-in-Law once asked me, years ago if I’d checked my brake fluid, I replied, “You mean my brakes? He replied, “No, your brake fluid.” I told him I’ve never heard of it! I thought he was going to die, there and then!!! He even advised me to check my water and oil every week! Every week?! What planet is he on; I don’t even check it once a month! My brother- in-law said I should have been blond! But the strangest thing he ever said to me was when I was expecting our first child, my Husband and I. He said to me, “Years ago men were not allowed to watch their wife giving birth, could he watch me give birth.” I thought I was gonna die, there and then from shock!! I replied, “No way! Who has ever heard of a brother-in-law been present at the birth of his sister-in-law’s baby?” He is a good man, he was genuinely disappointed, and I suppose it is one of the strange wonders of this world, the birth of a child. He’s never asked us for anything, for he is a giver, but I could not oblige!
My Brother-in-Law is very good with cars, my Husband and I not so. My Brother tried and failed to explain to me how to buy cheaper petrol, I stopped him in his tracks and said, “I just put £2.50 in and that’s it” He said, “Yes but, at the cheaper petrol station you can get more for your £2.50,” I told him I didn’t understand or mind, to me it was just £2.50 (clearly, I’m going back years) now with petrol SO dear it’s gone up to £5.
So, until recently I have always had road side cover. Paul, my Hubby bought me my first mobile phone when I was seven months pregnant with our first child, “In case I broke down” I usually break down at roundabouts or at traffic lights! I once broke down after I’d got petrol, at the petrol station!!! The first time I broke down, I was on a large three lane roundabout with traffic lights on! So that was 2 in 1 and it was yards from a petrol station. When my car broke down, I put my hazard lights on and walked to the grass verge out of the way. A man came over to me and moved my car out of the way, so it was at the edge, at the side of the road. I thanked him, he drove off, he was the first Angel. Then the roughest looking man I ever saw approached me, in other circumstances’ if I’d seen him on the streets, coming towards me, I would have crossed over! He’d seen me, as many had, as they drove past me, but he’d stopped and said, “Where would you like me to take your car?” I replied, “Please can you take it over there to the petrol station?” He got a rope and towed my car to the station which was about 25 yards away. I thanked him warmly, and off he went in his posh Jaguar car. He was my second Angel. I’d already rang for the road side recovery and when he came and fixed it, he was my third Angel.
Another time when I’d broken down it was on another very busy roundabout, so I just stood there on the side, an Asian bus driver stopped his single Decker bus and said to me, “You can’t stop there” I just looked at him and said nothing, he opened my driver’s front door and with his bus full of passengers watching he pushed and turned the steering wheel until it was out of harm’s way at the edge of the roundabout. I thanked him warmly. He was my first Angel. Then another man towed me off the roundabout for about 150 yards, I thanked him warmly too, as he was untying his rope, a man the same nationality as me stopped his car and asked me, “Are you alright?” I said “Yes, thank you,” he repeated his question, “Are YOU alright” I knew what he meant, and I re-assured him with a smile, and said, “Yes, thank you, I’m fine,” knowing I was safe, he drove off. He was my third Angel. The road side assistance that eventually came was a bonus.
I saw this amazing pattern, for every time; there have been three Men who have come to my assistance.
I remember the first time I was going to drive my car far. The kids were not born yet and so I said to Paul “I’ll join the road side assistance, just in case.” We arrived near to where we wanted to be and Paul said, “Let’s go up that little hill, we did and at the top we stopped and admired the view, but when it was time to drive on, we found out the car had broken down! So Paul said he’d push it, I was to take off the hand brake, as I held on to the steering wheel guiding it down quite fast, it came to a natural stop, at the bottom! There was no one around, so we got out the car and walked a bit until we came to a house in the middle of nowhere. It was quite dark now, we knocked on the door and a man came who lived there with his Wife. They invited us in, we explained what had happened, they let use their phone to talk to the road side assistance, who told us we were in the middle of nowhere, and would it be ok if they came tomorrow? The man of the house told them where we would be, and the road side assistance said they would meet us there around 10.am. The couple at the house offered us refreshments and he said he would he would tow my car to the Travellers Inn. There were no street lights, it was pitch dark! He’d already rang them to ask if there was room for us at the Inn, and there was. He was our first Angel. The following morning, as planned our road side assistance pulled up on the car park, he took one look under the bonnet and said, “He needed to drive and get the part, but that it would be difficult in this part of the village,” we asked if we could come along for the ride he replied, “Yes.” He drove for about 3 miles or so and as he arrived at where he wanted to me in this tiny Town, he saw the shop owner he wanted for the part about to drive off! The shop owner looked in his mirror and saw the large roadside assistance’s van and stopped. He reopened his shop, to let him in, I asked if I could pop into the shop/post office next door, the roadside assistance man said, “yes.” There were post cards for sale and one caught my eye it was called Hope. I was going through a very difficult time in my life, and I didn’t want anything to do with God or His Bible, yet I’d clung on, to two things, the Rainbow and Hope! So I bought this post card with the verse on and outside the road side assistance man was ready, he said to Paul and me, “The garage owner (my second Angel) said he didn’t have that part.... but when he looked, double checked again, he had, just the one!” The garage owner told the road side assistance man, he was “Lucky” I don’t think so! That was not luck! What was also amazing was, he’d told us on the way back to the car park, it was a lot cheaper for us, for garage owner has sold the part to him, for if he’d sold it to us, it would have cost us a lot more! For that I was grateful.
He took his time fixing our car, my third Angel and when he was done, we decided, we would buy a small tree and take it to the nice couple who’d shown us such kindness the night before. They were in, and once again welcomed us in and showed us around their beautiful home. They had a small river at the back of their garden! They loved their tree and showed us where they’d plant it! We told them all about the last 24 hours and we asked them the name of the little Town, they told us it is called Hope! I was taken aback, and thought about it often.
We often said we’d go back and see if they still lived there and look at the tree, so far we haven’t, but we Hope to, one day.
..... We have entertained Angels unawares ......