Flat Tire

As the Zoom meeting I was hosting began, Laura’s deeply distressed face appeared from behind a wall into my field of vision. “I got a flat tire.  It’s really bad and totally flat,” she choked out.  Focused on the meeting and since she’d made it home okay, I said I’d take care of it afterward.

It was completely flat with a trail of rubber residue going down the driveway and at least thirty yards down the street.  My heart sank as I thought about the condition of the rim.  As I began changing the tire over to the spare, I was reminded of a good friend who’d helped me change a flat tire at Laura’s work on a cold early evening, years before…

He’d dropped everything to meet me there, brought a jack and set of sockets for the lug nuts, and insisted on doing most of the work with the impact driver I brought.  It was very nice, but also humbling to watch him change the tire and resolve the problem so quickly with his experience and practical tools.  When I thanked him, I was relieved he didn’t ask me to forfeit my “man-card”!  Instead, he said, “Glad to help!  You could’ve done it. Here!” and handed me an extra set of lug nut sockets.

Back to my garage and the task at hand, I used that very set to calmly and quickly change this flat, remembering his way of doing it years before.  Though this was a newer vehicle that had different lug nuts, the tool set hadn’t become obsolete and worked fine!  It was then I thought of Jesus…

Philippians 2:1-11 reminds us that Jesus Christ humbled himself and used his unique identity and skill set to serve others interests before his own. Unlike many of his day and today, Jesus came alongside regular humans (like us), in the nitty gritty of life, and “got his hands dirty” serving them with his love and grace.  In fact, he voluntarily “got his whole life dirty“ on that cross and in and beyond of that tomb, showing and offering us a better way that will never become obsolete!

Let’s humbly trust Jesus’ timeless identity & skill set to help us know & pass on God’s love and grace, serving & sharing life with fellow humans!