Yesterday, Friday 25 Oct 2024, our caravan snapped on 100km/h highway … then God stepped in.

There are 3 ways you can hear the rest of the story:

• watch on Youtube

• listen on Spotify

• continue reading below

We were traveling from Porirua to Rotorua, which is about a 6 hour drive.

We're less than an hour into our trip when I heard bang, followed by a loud grinding sound, and sparks appearing in my rear view mirror.

We were on the main NZ highway, just before Levin.

It's a long weekend, the road is busy, and it was pouring with rain.

I pull over to the side, and my first words to Tash were something along the lines of: “this is gonna be fun!”

And not in the sarcastic sense, but that something good is going to happen for us.

Why?

Because we've understood God's goodness to the point that panic doesn't register.

Instead, we can be in rest knowing that He makes all things work for our good.

So we remained at ease.

I call AA, and they said they'd be with us in an hour.

I call a local engineer, hoping that we can get it towed to them. Even if they had to hold it over the long weekend that'd be fine – something else will work out for us to get to Rotorua.

The engineer says, “Yeah bring it in and we'll see what we can do.”

For a Friday (and a long weekend!) I thought this was amazing.

So, the tow truck and engineer are booked.

Now, we wait.

9.30am: Angels in disguise

We broke down in front of a farm.

After 30min waiting in the car, two vans come down the farm driveway.

An elderly gentlemen comes out of one of them, walks towards us and says:

“Bring your family inside. We'll put some morning tea on, you can dry off and keep warm, and stay here as long as you need.”

This elderly man and his son, total strangers, came out of nowhere to care for my family and I.

So we unhitch the caravan, they put out cones to warn traffic of the broken caravan, and we head to their property.

They fed us, offered us towels and hot showers, and pulled out old toys for the kids.

It was a precious experience.

12pm: Engineers

The tow truck arrives, loads the caravan, and takes it to the engineer.

I follow behind.

The engineers take a look and say they might be able to get it sorted within a few hours.

“Leave it with us, and we'll give you a call.”

I thank them for taking the time, and head back to my family at the angelhouse.

So again, we wait.

No panic, no fear, just a simple trust and knowing that God makes all things work for our good.

3.45pm: Engineers call

The phone rings, and I hear those sweet sounding words:

“Hey Lee, Jessie the engineer here. Your caravan is all sorted and ready to go."

I can't tell you how excited we all were.

Rotorua, here we come!

We thanked our new friends, Tom and Mike, the father and son duo who took us in. We had some wonderful conversations over the hours with them, and we plan to pop in on our way back home – we have new lifelong friends.

We jump in the car, pick up the caravan, thank the engineers again, and continue our trip to Rotorua.

We would arrive at our accommodation at 10.30pm, safely and happy.

Final words

Rest is not some hyped up pep-talk. And neither is it something that can be manufactured. It's a reality that we're all invited into. And when rubber meets the road, everything comes to light.

What's awesome is that we shared the raw journey on Instagram as it was happening in real time.

Many got to follow the entire day as it happened, and watched the full process from the caravan breaking down, all the way to us finally arriving in Rotorua.

We received so many comments and messages from people saying how encouraged they were by it.

You can watch those raw videos on my Instagram page here, under the highlight tab: CARAVAN

You'll be able to see the raw emotion of it all as it happened in real time.

One client said this:

God's goodness is not just some nice sounding sermon.

It's His very nature, and it's my hope that the Body would remember again the goodness of God in all its purity, and thus enjoy His reality of rest.

It's possible.

Shout outs:

We want to thank the engineers, Chuck and Jessie, at Central Automotive Services in Levin. To do what they did, and in the time they did it, was truly a miracle. Their graciousness, professionalism, and skill is remarkable. We highly recommend them.

We want to thank our coaching clients and online followers who prayed for us as they watched the story unfold in real time. It was so enjoyable to walk through that day with you all.

Finally, Tom and Mike. The father and son duo who took us in, fed us, kept us warm, and played with our kids. No words can express how thankful we are, and how good it is to know that there are plenty of angels in disguise in our beautiful land of New Zealand.

Here they are below:

God is ONLY good.

Bless you,

Lee