The last leg

We spent the night and drove all the next day.  We made it to Evanston, Wyoming around 2:00 in the afternoon.  At each stop Matt checked the trailer for problems.  In Evanston he noticed the weld on the U-joints had broken and the metal looked like it was going to come out of the bolt.  He decided it was a good time to fix that before it came off and our suspension dropped to the ground.

He figured he could get it to hold fairly quickly and we would be back on the road and get home by 9:30.  He had to go to work the next morning.

We parked at a truckstop.  We had 1 semi space for the van and trailer and set up 1 semi space as a playground for children.  The yellow line was not to be crossed and Matt put the ice chest and some boxes as the other barrier.

Matt got out his tools.  He had a drill, some scrap wood, some screws.  He began to jack up the side of the trailer so he could get to the u-joint.  As soon as the trailer began to lift up, the other welded support snapped off at the bottom.

It was better that it broke in the parking lot than on the road.  Matt could fix it the same way he did the other side at Ben's house - with wood and screws.  We had a hurdle though.  The weld had only snapped on the bottom.  It was still attached at the top and it was in the way of our fix.  We some how needed to break of the top weld.  It didn't look too difficult.  All of the guys other welds had broken and this had lots of holes in it.  How hard could it be? 

Apparently hard.  We banged on it with a hammer.  Gideon banged on it.  Elijah banged on it.  We used a crowbar.  not a budge.  A crowbar with a cheater bar.  A longer crowbar with a cheater.  That thing was not budging.  A man walked up and gave the kids some cookies.

We sat the children down.  

Matt updated the children on the situation.  "Ok kids.  We have another problem.  The weld broke and we can't get the weld off.  Also the U-joint is falling off.  We don't know how to deal with either problem and we have used all the tools we have.  We are still 7 hours from home." 

Sam responded, "This is pure joy!"

We all sat down and prayed.  The children went back to playing.  They tied Sam up for fun.

Around that time Abbey got fussy so Josiah entertained her in the car.  He makes a great babysitter.

Matt and I took inventory.  How could we get that weld off?  We remembered the basketball hoop that we cut down from the front yard in Hidden Valley Lake.  That could be a really long lever.  We had a big block of wood we could use as a fulcrum.

Matt set it up.

Then as he pushed on the backboard with his feet I was supposed to lie under the trailer and hold the block of wood steady.  That was scary, but the trailer didn't fall on me and I didn't die.  We got some pressure on the fulcrum and it was steadied.  So I moved to help Matt with pushing our lever.  It was my job to keep him from slipping back while he was pushing.  He is large and lumpy and was pushing back very hard.  He kept asking me, "are you even pushing?" and I was.  He pushed and scooted and pushed and scooted and Clink! the top of the weld broke to one side! 

We now had room to get the wood under, do the screws and get in the car.  This whole process had taken an hour and daylight was burning.  We took time to kiss for joy, take a picture, thank the Lord for his provision, but it was time to get this job done!  We felt great urgency to finish and get on our way. 

Matt handed me the drill and drill bit.  I was to follow his instructions and stratigically drill holes through the wood in the trailer.  Then change out the bit and drill the screws into the block of wood.  He was under the trailer making sure my holes were in the right place.  And he was making me hustle.  I got as far as the first hole when this man walked up.

He was on oxygen and had a broken leg.  He asked us if we needed help.  Matt crawled out from under the trailer, thanked him for his offer, and said we were just about done.  The man asked what was wrong.  Matt told him the brief version.  The man mentioned he had a friend down the street that could fix it in the morning.  Matt explained again that we had everything we needed and were almost through, but thank you for the offer.  The man said he had a business card for the guy if we needed it.  Matt thanked him again and said we didn't need it.  The man responded, "Its just over there in my truck, I can go get it."  At that point, I didn't think the man was going to leave unless we accepted something.  So I piped up, "ok we'll take the card just in case."  The man hobbled back to his truck.  

And I got in trouble. "He was just about to go!  Why did you tell him we would take the card?!"  Matt was frustrated with our wasted time.  "I don't know.  I'm sorry."  I responded.  "Aggh.  I didn't think he was leaving unless we said yes to something."

Matt got back under the trailer and I tried to drill another hole.  The man came back with the card.  Matt climbed back out from under the trailer and thanked the man.  The man continued to chit chat with Matt.  We weren't getting anywhere.

I decided to get out of the trailer and do the conversation so Matt could get something done.  I asked the man where he was from, what he was doing in Evansten, how did he break his leg... As it turned out, we met that man for a reason.  The man's two children had been killed by a drunk driver two weeks earlier.  He injured his leg shortly after that.  He was self medicating with vodka, went to church for the first time in 20 years just that Sunday.  He was in bad shape.  

He used to live in Hawk Springs Wy and Torrington Wy which are the next towns over from Lagrange where we live.  He bought his property from Bear Mountain real estate office in Lagrange.  We shared some stories about the area and then the coversation moved to his life and current sorrows. He was tearing up.

I could see from his story he needed the Lord.  Our conversation opened up to God.  He was open and ready to talk about it.  

He said people were nice at church but that was all he got.  I shared with him that he didn't need a building to have a relationship with God.  

The previous owners of the van had put a bumper sticker on the van.  It read, "Acts 16:31 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."  I pointed to the bumper sticker on the van and the man read it.  "Yes I know that," he said, "I just don't get the forgiveness part."  I shared with him 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  I asked him, "Who are you to think you are unforgivable?"  "That is true."  He said thoughtfully.

About this time, Matt had finished the trailer.  He had gone in the trailer and under at least a dozen times fixing it while I talked.  He had heard our conversation and realized the opportunity to share the truth about Jesus Christ and encourage this hurting man was well worth the sacrifice of getting home late.

Matt had the boys load up our things and get back in the van.  He took the opportunity to also spend some time with the man and joined the conversation.  When we left, Matt and the man exchanged contact info.  The man said he had a Bible and we wrote down 1 John 1:9 for him to read later.  Before we left Matt and the man hugged.

We arrived home at 2:30 in the morning.  Matt made it to work. : ) Humanly speaking our trailer was a financial and physical disaster.  Heavenly speaking it was well worth the money.  

Proverbs 3:6 Lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.