earnest fixed a flat

Recently, I learned that those black tubes I swam with as a child were not 'enner tubes' but inner tubes. I also learned I was mislead and the twirls i perfected at kindergarten graduation was 'barn dancing', not square dancing. I felt slightly deflated but not nearly as much as my bike tire.

The campsite was set, and it was now time to bike around. Unfortunately, my tire didn't survive the ride on the hitch. I held my breath, hoping a can of Fix-a-Flat would save the day. After I covered the inside and outside of my tire (and my shoes) with toxic sticky white glue, I assumed I'd ride off into the sun set sand dunes of Silver Lake with my family.

I'm not sure when it was exactly that my neighbor from site 149 smelled the toxic fumes or how the trasfer of power came about. But there he was just like an old friend, making small talk and keeping the kids' toy dolphin out of the milky foam.

"This reminds me of the days back in my dad's gas station garage," he said reminiscing as he immersed the tire in a tub of water to find the leak. "I used to fix tires," he continued. Huh, how 'bout that. After locating the hole, it was clear that a patch was needed. I darted back to the gas station outside the campgrounds and there behind the register was a bicycle tube patch kit. I returned to my bike and set my hands to fix the tube.

1. Clean surface

2. Rough the...shuffling feet and slow gait, my neighbor returned with a nail file and baby powder. We had been hunched over the bike for a half hour. A minute longer and it would just be awkward so I asked him his name. "Ernest," he said, and he began to pump the tire. The moment of truth.

Later that evening around the fire, Ernest checked in to see if his work was acceptable. We chatted for a bit, until the fire burned low.

I saw that first afternoon on the camp sight how God provided. It is what he does - for his children wandering in a desert, for his prophet hiding near a stream, for hungry multitudes, and for a girl about to embark on the unknown. He will provide in earnest. This I know is true.

 

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