what's your brand?

yesterday was my day to watch dutch and i love watching him but on so may occasions when he is in your care you don't get anything else done. i was thankful that my wife came home a little early so i could go to school early and get some studying done. i was able to leave the house at 5:30 and would be able to arrive at school a good 2 hours before class actually started...or so i would hope. i haven't left this early to school before so the window of traffic from 4:45-6:30pm on loop 12 and spur 408 to i-20 is pretty packed with commuters. i didn't think anything of it of course, because, i was very early. the fast lane is reserved for those of us who on occasion like to go fast which is not possible at this moment but it does however provide the smoothest form travel as opposed to the slow lane which comes to a complete stop every 5 seconds. there was a point in my travel that i noticed a white substance coming from underneath my hood. i dismissed it because it was so light and the wind was so heavy; i reasoned it might be dust. i wasn't going but 10-15 mph at the time. the next half mile was such a horrible feeling as i realized it was my car that was smoking. the confirmation came when i was in gear but my car was acting as though it was in neutral. i could rev the engine which would shoot the rpm's up but the car would not accelerate. i pulled over immediately and proceeded to turn down the hardline on sports radio 1310 the ticket to listen for any noise while i had the engine on, but in park. nothing but miniscule amounts of smoke were streaming from underneath the hood. i turned the car off and thought about who i could call to help me. i will call my wife and ask for the insurance number to get a tow truck. our insurance cards just expired and so they were removed from the vehicle yet the new one was not put in place. i called but to no avail. i then called my mechanic, hadi, that is his name, he is persian. it is still so hard to understand him on the phone but all i could make out was, "if it is white smoke, it is a fluid burning." i got out to check if there was any fluid leaking underneath the car on the road. there was, it was red, so that means transmission fluid. i had a transmission fluid leak. so i called hadi and told him that he can expect to work on the car in the morning. meanwhile, i needed a tow truck. i was literally half a mile from kiest blvd, the exit for dbu. i just got back in the car began listening to the radio waiting for liz to call back. i proceeded to call her again, i looked down at my phone for maybe a second or 3. all of a sudden i look up and there is this guy in a white plymouth neon in front of me and he is approaching my door. i open the door and he tells me he saw me and wondered what the problem was. i got out and told him everything. he then takes off his shirt and proceeds to jack my car up and look underneath the car. i mean he was thorough about everything. "find a rock for the back tire, put the emergency brake on, get that metal sign laying on the ground cause the jack is sinking into the dirt, no that won't work, get the spare tire to prop underneath the jack so it won't sink into the dirt." he had a buddy who was with him, an older gentlemen, maybe 50, 60 years old who reeked of alcohol with a cigarette hanging on the end of his lips. the other guy jumps from underneath the car, with a cigarette hanging on the end of his lips mind you, and tells me he is a mechanic. figures, mechanics are the only ones who can properly work on cars and have that cigarette hanging on the end of their lips, you know, it looks as though it is just about to fall right down the center of the cavity of the front of the car? he then tells me his name and the name of the older gentlemen, we shake hands and i tell them my name. they then begin asking if i know about jesus and that he is the savior of all and that repairing cars in times of crisis seems significant but is trivial compared to what jesus has done for me. i was blown away! the story does not end there. the guy looking under my car tells me i have a hose that was cut by another part of the car but the transmission is not hurt. the older gentlemen then says, "oh, you mean you need this part?" he pulls the exact part i need for my car right out of his pocket and says he found it at the shop on their way out and didn't want to leave it there or throw it away. it was a hose with clamps and all for the proper repair. i didn't know what to say or think. these guys were the biggest bunch of rednecks i had ever seen. the older gentlemen told me, "lock up your sh*! and he will take you to get transmission fluid while i put the part on." i went got the fluid and couldn't believe this thing that was happening to me. they fixed the car told me about how all week they had been helping stranded motorist along 408. they live in oak cliff.

i have never encountered angels, but i have always believed they were there. my senses want to tell me this is just coincidence. i don't know thought, i didn't even see them pull up. i looked down for a second and then all of a sudden a man was approaching my car to help. and that is not even the craziest thing, but the older guy had the exact hose i needed to fix my car! i couldn't believe it. i told them i knew jesus and thanked them. i did repay them, not in cash though. i thought about it all night and still to this very moment i want to say they were just men. but were they? maybe god used these men to help me. the whole reeking of alcohol on the elderly guy, the whole dirtiness, and smoking like chimney's thing got to me. i have had my fair share of cigarette's and alcohol and, trust me, i understand the devastating effects these substances have on the body short and long term. i guess i still wonder...could angels smoke and drink?