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There are some moments you don’t think much about at the time… until later, when you start connecting the dots. Last night was one of those moments for me.

I was heading out to church like any other night. Nothing unusual. Just getting in the car, heading down the road, thinking about the service ahead. Everything looked fine when I left. Tire pressures were all sitting right where they should be—33 PSI across the board. No warning lights. No reason to think twice. But a few minutes into the drive, I glanced down at the display and noticed something odd. 

The right rear tire was at 31. Now, that’s not a huge drop—but it was enough to catch my attention. Just enough to make me think, “That’s a little strange.” So I kept an eye on it. A few minutes later, I looked again. 32. And right there, I did what we all tend to do.

I reasoned it away. “Well, it went back up. Must not be anything serious.” And I kept driving.

I made it to church without any issue. Got out, walked around, everything looked fine. Even gave it that classic “kick the tire” test—and it felt solid. So I went inside. We had service. Worshiped. Spent time together. Just a normal night at church.

But about two hours later, everything changed. I came back out, got in the car, and pulled away. I didn’t make it a block. The TPMS warning came on—and this time it wasn’t subtle. 9 PSI.

Just like that. From “looks fine” to “you’ve got a problem right now.” So I turned around and headed back to the church. And what followed was one of those long, frustrating, but oddly meaningful experiences.

Pastor Billy and Brother Joel jumped in to help, and for the next couple of hours we worked on that tire. Trying to get it off. Finding the issue. Sure enough—there was a screw in it. We plugged it. Tried to inflate it. Worked with it over and over. But in the end, it just wasn’t holding.

So finally, we put the doughnut tire on so I could make it home. Now, on the surface, it’s just a flat tire story. An inconvenience. A delay. A frustrating couple of hours. But the more I thought about it… the more I realized something deeper was going on.

Because here’s the truth:

That tire didn’t fail on the highway.
It didn’t give out on a dark backroad.
It didn’t leave me stranded somewhere unsafe.

It held… just long enough. Long enough to get me to church. Long enough to be in a place where help was available. Long enough to avoid what could have been a much worse situation.

And I couldn’t shake this thought: God was watching over me—even in something as small as a tire.

Psalm 121:7–8 (NKJV) says:

“The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.”

That phrase—“your going out and your coming in”—hit me in a fresh way. Because that’s exactly what this was. Going out… heading to church. Coming in… arriving safely.

And right in the middle of all of it—God’s quiet protection.

Now, let’s be clear. This doesn’t mean we’ll never have problems. The tire still went flat. There was still inconvenience. There was still frustration.

But what it does mean is this: God often protects us in ways we don’t recognize in the moment.

We tend to focus on what went wrong. The flat tire. The delay. The hassle. But we don’t always stop to consider what didn’t happen. What we were spared from. What God quietly held together just a little bit longer.

If I’m being real for a moment…How many times has God done that in our lives?

Held something together just long enough…So we could get where we needed to be.

Kept something from breaking down until we were in a safe place.

Delayed the problem until we had the right people around us.

And we didn’t even notice. Because all we saw was the inconvenience—not the protection.

Standing there in that church parking lot, working on that tire with Pastor Billy and Brother Joel, I realized something simple: I wasn’t alone. Not physically—and not spiritually.

God had already arranged the situation. The timing. The place. The people. It all lined up in a way I couldn’t have planned if I tried. And that’s how God often works. Not always in dramatic, obvious ways. But in quiet, steady, faithful protection.

We love the big miracles. The undeniable ones. The moments where there’s no question that God showed up. But sometimes, His hand is just as present in the ordinary moments that could have gone differently.

A tire that holds just a little longer. A delay that keeps you from being somewhere at the wrong time. A problem that waits until you’re not alone. That’s not coincidence. That’s providence.

And maybe someone reading this needs to hear this today: Just because something went wrong doesn’t mean God wasn’t protecting you.

In fact, it might be the very opposite. The flat tire wasn’t the failure of God’s care. It was evidence of His timing. Because it didn’t happen when it could have been dangerous. It happened when it could be handled.

So today, instead of just asking, “Why did this happen?” Maybe we should also ask:

“What did God protect me from?” “What could have been worse that I never saw?” “Where did His hand hold things together just a little longer?”

Because if we start looking at life that way…We’ll begin to see His faithfulness everywhere.

Last night didn’t go the way I planned. But it went exactly the way it needed to. And I made it home safely. Not because everything went right…But because God was watching over my going out and my coming in.

Grace and peace,
Pastor David
gracepastordavid@gmail.com