“Just a Matter of Time”

In the middle of a cold snap that had temperatures dropping to -25°F (-31.6°C), the heater’s blower fan in my pickup started screeching loudly. This went on for a few days until I finally called an auto parts store and bought a new fan. That same day I called a friend from church, asking permission to park my truck inside his shop to replace the part. “Sure! Come on over!” he responded.

I drove to his shop after work and pulled inside.

As soon as I parked and got out, he said, “Your truck’s leakin’ oil.” I looked under the cab, and sure enough, oil was steadily dripping.

My other vehicle was already in the shop for major repairs, so the last thing I needed was more vehicle issues. My friend got started on replacing the heater fan while I lay down on a creeper (a low-wheeled support used when working under a vehicle) and rolled underneath my truck. Looking up from the creeper, I saw oil spattered over other parts of, well, everything under there.

But the engine itself was dry. I looked at the oil filter and saw oil around the bottom third of it. Everything else around the filter was dry.

I removed the brush guard on the bottom of the truck to reach the filter. When I did, the filter was so loose I could turn it by hand.

I used one of the shop owner’s filter wrenches to tighten the filter and then cleaned up the oil mess as best I could without having any degreaser spray. There is no way I could have done that repair job in the dark —especially in -25°F temperatures! My friend told me that if that filter had come off, it would have dropped by the side of the road. Not only that, if I had lost the vehicle’s oil, the engine may have seized up.

Without my spare vehicle being available, I would have been in bad shape: -25°F temperatures and no transportation except for my four-wheeler. Not very practical for an Alaskan winter! I am so glad I didn’t wait for the heater fan to quit completely. The oil filter would have dropped off somewhere.

It was “just a matter of time,” said my friend at the shop.

God knew all about that loose filter and the other vehicle issues I’d been having. In the subsequent words of a friend from work when I told her, “Oh, my! That was a tender mercy from God!” What has God done for you lately that you can share with others about His goodness?

Sonia Brock