We're driving through Poland, anxious to get back to Germany after our Thanksgiving celebration in Czech. We are already delayed one day because of the freezing rain that had turned the roads to ice. As we pass through the outskirts of a town, the car behind us starts flashing its lights. Jim looks down at his speed. No, he's not speeding. He checks to make sure his lights are on, as it is the law in Poland to always drive with your lights on. Can't be that, his lights are on. The car pulls up next to us with the driver waving frantically. The car pulls over and we pull over in front of him. A man gets out of his car and comes up to my window, rapidly speaking and waving his hands. Jim gets out of the car and through hand motions and pointing, we figure out that our right back tire is loose and wobbling back and forth as we drive. Upon closer inspection, Jim sees that two of the five lug bolts are broken completely off! The man drives away and we slowly pull out, looking for a gas station or somewhere to get it looked at. Within about 2 minutes, we see a tire store with a garage! We leave our car and call our friends, Dan and Laura Hash, who live nearby. As we tell the story to Laura, she says, "Wow, that man sounds like an angel!" To which Jim replied, "Yes, and he looked an awful lot like Dick Patty!" (Dave Patty's father, for those of you who know him.)
Well, this was the culprit. A small ring, about the size of a bracelet, had mistakenly been left on the axle after the summer tires were removed and the winter tires put on! Too many more kilometers and our tire would have come completely off! I'm not saying that all angels are Polish, but God sure sent us a Polish one that day!A Black Eye
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Czech with about 100 of our American Josiah Venture teammates and families! (To read more about our Thanksgiving gathering, check out Connie Patty's blog post at http://www.bloglovin.com/frame?post=3880690273&blog=6617169&group=6617169&frame_type=b)
Now, no Thanksgiving would be complete without a rousing game of American football. So, Jim went down to the field to join in on the game of flag football. As he looked around, he noticed he was the only one there over the age of 50. That should have been his first clue! But, no, he goes ahead and dives in where all other men over 50 tremble to tread! But, never being one to hesitate, he came back with the greatest souvenir of all, a manly looking black eye!!!
So, weather you think angels are Polish or that black eyes are manly, we know this Thanksgiving will go down in our "Thankful Book" as the Thanksgiving God used a Polish Angel to deliver us and a black eye to remind us that we aren't as young as we once were!
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