Ring, ring.  “Hey, Dad!”  Brett answered his cell phone.  Brett’s mood became somber by the end of the phone conversation.  A day later we packed up the car, took a look at the balding tires, said a prayer, and drove the 500 miles to his dad’s. 

Fast forward to the next morning:  Brett walks out to the car and loudly groaned when he saw a flat tire on the rear of the vehicle.  He jacked it up, removed the flat tire and slid on the equally flat donut.  He found his dad’s air compressor and managed to fill it about half full of air before the compressor needed more charging. 

Brett threw the flat tire into the back of his dad’s suburban and drove it to the nearest tire shop.  They painstakingly looked for the leak and finally discovered that it was leaking under the patch which apparently had been holding the tire together.  Quite obviously the tire was past any possible repairs to give it new life and get it back on the road.

Brett and his dad began calling every tire shop around looking for a good deal on a set of tires.  Between the both of them they must have called a half a dozen or more shops.  One shop about 30 minutes away in the next town offered the low, low price of $407.  Everyone else quoted a price of $500 give or take a few dollars either way. 

Brett’s dad, not to be deterred, called a friend of his who wheels and deals in a little bit of everything.  Amazingly the friend said that he did have two nearly new tires in the size we needed and he would sell them for $35!  $30 more dollars and the two tires were mounted on the car for a savings of about $135 for two tires.

 God certainly answered our prayers for safety.  But, the tires at such a savings turned out to be a bonus.  I hadn’t thought to ask for such a great deal!  God’s certainly proved his promise in Isaiah 64:24, “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”