Blow Out

We went to Tallahassee last weekend to spend a Saturday watching college football with Rachel’s brother Danny. We also filled the back of the truck with firewood to bring home because it’s easier to find up there. We’ve done this several times with my truck over the years, but this time was different.

The first blow out, my right rear tire, occurred just 15 minutes out of Tallahassee on the way home. So I jacked up the truck, put on the spare, and off we went.

The second blow out, my left rear tire, happened just as we went from I-10 to south I-75. I didn’t have a second spare, but I did have towing coverage, so a couple hours later we were pulling out of Tire Kingdom with two new tires. I told Rachel if we blew another one I was going to stack the firewood on the side of the interstate for whoever wanted it. But we didn’t blow another tire. We made it home fine.

Now I had purchased the original four tires all at the same time, and rotated them regularly. They still had plenty of tread, and the front ones are still doing fine. When I asked the tire guy what he thought had caused the problem, he said probably they were just a little old, and couldn’t handle the extra load.

So if I hadn’t gotten the firewood I’d probably not have needed to get new tires for another year or so.
This whole incident made me think of Proverbs 24:10, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small”. This verse is saying that we really don’t know if we’re strong until we’re tested with an extra load, just like my tires. We’re also like my tires in that we wear down over time. But unlike them, we can renew our strength by waiting on (spending time with) the Lord (Is 40:31).

The truth is we’ll all be tested. Life does that. Maybe life is doing that to you now. But you can handle it, as long as you know where to go for strength.