I went in for the scheduled oil change and learned something.

I already know I should get regular oil changes and top off those fluid levels. My late father was an auto mechanic, so if there’s anything he would preach as car maintenance religion, it’s that. But on this particular day, my van also underwent a transmission fluid flush and fill.

Now that all sounds pretty normal, but what might not seem so usual is that a woman was handling all this. When the process was explained to me, she did it. When I had questions, she answered them. There were a couple of guys around, but she was right on top of things, helping me understand what they were doing and how I should follow up. (Although I have to admit when she talked about my torque converter, she lost me.)

My point, and I do have one, is that I was shown once again that I can learn from the most unlikely sources. I’m not sexist, but this was so new to me. It never occurred to me that a woman would know about torque converters. She may not have great knowledge in other areas, but she surely knew auto maintenance.

Likewise, I should never underestimate who God chooses to use in my life to see what it is he wants me to see.

I sat in a 12-step meeting once watching a man come in, sit down, say his name and pass at his turn to speak every single week for months. I honestly wondered if he was getting it. Then one night it came his turn and after telling us his name, he told us what was on his heart. He made so much sense, I sat there stunned.

Silly me, thinking one has to have years of spiritual maturity to make sense.

If God can use a donkey to set one of his people straight (see Numbers 22), I guess he can use anyone. Where I’m slow to learn, someone else may have great wisdom for me. I hope I never underestimate the power of God’s word through the people he places in my path.