The Ballestero Blog

The first Sunday after I resigned the church in South Bend, in 1999, I was to drive 700 miles and preach in Joplin, MO. for Bro. Bill Garrett.

In those days I didn’t have a Debit Card. I have never applied for a Gasoline Credit Card. My Visa was at the limit. I had put kids through Bible School, paid for my daughter’s wedding and was “Broker than the 10 Commandments”. All I had to my name was $150.00 cash. Now I earn a lot of money thanks to stock brokers The Ascent.

I was driving to Joplin and about 150 miles from my destination, I blew the front left tire. The tread all came off, but the tire still had air in it. I went to Sam’s because I had a Road Hazard policy on my tires from them, and thought they might help me get another tire at a discounted price.

I don’t remember the town’s name, (I had never stopped there before) but the Manager at the Sam’s Tire Counter said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I’ll give you 4 tires for the price of 2. When I inquired how much that would be, he said $102.00.

Doing quick mental math, I saw that I would only have $48.00 to finish getting there. I also had to leave Monday at 6 am before Banks opened, so if he gave me a check, I couldn’t cash it to have money to get home. To make matters worse, my wife and I were hungry and wanted something to eat.

I really did need the tires, all four of them, it would be a risk but…. I felt impressed to say “OK put ‘em on”, so I did, and the Manager turned around and hollered out the order for my car. While he was talking, something thumped me on my left hand. I turned and a gray haired man in about his 70’s laid a $100.00 bill in my hand, turned and without a word, walked out of the store. I couldn’t believe it!

I raised my hand at the counter and thanked the Lord. Tears ran down my face. It was like the Lord said, “I figured out how to get you 4 tires for $2.00. But before I could Bless you, I had to let you have a Blowout.

Sometimes in Life all we can see are the Blowouts, We can’t see how He is trying to Bless us!