Flat Tire

It was pouring last night on the way to house church in Pasadena. After a warm dinner and a hilarious round of our now infamous white elephant gift exchange, we headed out. With the rest of the gang having already driven off, our friend Michelle discovered she had a flat. Luckily, I was still there and pulled up to see what was the matter. Fortunately, we were also still nearly in front of Harry & Julie's place. So Harry came down and he and I changed the tire with the rain still coming down and our feet fully soaked from the water rushing down the curbside on its way to the street drain in front of us. When I got home and took off my outer jacket, I was startled by the heaviness of it. All that time I never really noticed the jacket's weight, soaked as it was, draped over my shoulders. Harry and I were helping a friend with a flat tire, nothing heroic, any of us would have done the same. In other words, it wasn't heavy. "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed," says Proverbs. Sometimes there's something exhilarating and good about changing a tire in the rain.