More Car Problems
The Tankersley family seems to be cursed with car troubles. If that line sounds familiar, this post started the same a month and a half ago.
My cars just enjoy dying. I've never owned a new car, but I'm not sure that would help. Nobody knows when this curse came upon the family. Maybe my great-grandpa didn't carry an old lady up a hill, and now I need to go to a juvenile camp and carry her great-grandson. Maybe it's just confirmation bias.
In any case, my car died again. Here's the story of all the chaos that ensued; enjoy the ride!
Error in Transmission
Every Friday morning, my church has prayer at 7:00AM. One may think that is unreasonably early; however, Michelle and I have been waking up between 5:45 and 6:00 to run around the neighborhood. You may wonder, what are they running from? We're running from calories! The more calories I burn, the more ice cream I can eat!
Fridays are our short but hard days. We run one mile as fast as we can! This workout gives our legs diversity, but more importantly it gets us to prayer time on time. After the run, we take our separate cars to the church. Roughly 2 minutes away, the excitement begins. Speeding away from a stoplight going about 35 MPH, my car suddenly lurches! Worriedly, I ask the car, "Are you OK?" The car doesn't respond. I continue to the church.
Prayer time goes well, except when Sean notices that my front-passenger tire is flat. He always notices them flat; if he never looked at my car, the tires probably would never have issues. Maybe he's the one I need to carry up a hill...
Planning to worry about the tire later, I head to work. I get on the highway, but my car forcefully explains that getting on the highway is a terrible idea. It does so by refusing to go above 35 MPH without revving up to 5000 RPMs. Not one to argue with my car, I immediately exit. The car stays at 20 MPH... then 10...then stops moving. It's acting like a stubborn dog that doesn't want to return home. No matter how much gas I give it, it keeps its butt planted firmly on the ground.
Working in an IT company, I've learned the ultimate trick for fixing faulty hardware: turn it off and back on. Following this trick, my car decides it would love to drive more, and off we go!... at the crawling pace of 40MPH. The poor thing just can't shift gears! I decide to bring the car home rather than go straight to work, and, after one more incident of not being able to move, I make it home.
The Journey To Work
I plan to just work at home for the day until I realize that, for the first time in two weeks, I left my computer at work. Now I am at home with the perfect excuse to simply work at home for the day...and I don't have my computer. Being a software developer, a computer is pretty important. Somehow I have to get to my office.
So what do I do? I change into my running shoes and go for my second jog of the day! I have always believed that you never know when you are going to need the ability to run long distances. Most days you don't. This day I do! My work is only 2 miles away from my house, and Michelle and I run that distance every day!
We do not, however, run that distance in the heat. It is now roughly 85 degrees outside. We also typically shower before we are seen (or smelled) in public. Running in the heat, in jeans, for 20 minutes, being a well-hydrated guy, I am definitely going to sweat.
Today, I sweat a lot.
The Day At Work
I enter my office as wet as if I had swam in my clothing. Reaching my desk, I suddenly realize how well the A/C works in the building. InterWorks definitely accommodates the Northerners! Realizing it is in everybody's best interest for me to not leave a puddle everywhere I go, I head to the bathroom to towel off.
Then, the day of awesomeness begins.
I walk into the kitchen and am met with breakfast food galore. One person brought pastries from a bakery, one brought donuts from a donut shop, and one brought food from McDonalds. Having just worked off a good number of calories, I gave my body plenty of its most important nutrient: sugar. Or high fructose corn syrup. Whatever it was, it was delicious.
A short time later, I discover that InterWorks is bringing in lunch for the day! Perfect timing, since I decided not to run with my lunch in hand. I spend the lunch hour dining with friends on fluffy tacos.
After lunch, I return to my office, exiting soon after upon hearing laughter in the hallway. I uncover the source: my fellow coworkers are taking turns on a mini segue!
I spend the next hour watching people riding and riding it myself. These machines are awesome. They appear impossible to use, but once you get the hang of it, they seem to follow your thoughts more than your feet. They are brilliant little machines; try one out if you ever get the opportunity.
Finally, the day is over and Michelle picks me up. I'm definitely glad I left my computer at work. I would have missed out on a great day otherwise!
The Cost
Over the next week, Michelle and I attempt to get the car fixed. First I bring it in to a Honda Dealer. They want to replace the transmission. The cost: $5100 for used, $6300 for new.
GULP
I politely tell them my car is not worth that much, and I and retrieve it. As I drive the car home, I wonder if this will be the last time I ever drive it. Michelle and I attempt finding a better price. After asking around, I find a shop that can do the repair for $3000. We decide the price is good, and we bring the car in!
Conclusion
The last time my car had issues, I shared how God often turns a bad situation into a good one.
Then, He took a situation that should have cost me $500 and made it nearly free,
then gave me the opportunity to share the gospel with the mechanic!
However, it does not always work out that way. This instance is a prime example. I was left two weeks without a car and $3000 poorer. And what did I gain? Well...at first glance, nothing.
But what more do I need? In Romans 8, Paul asks "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?" If God was willing to send Jesus as our replacement on the cross, what good is He going to withold? He has already given us the greatest gift ever; there's nothing left to withhold!
But how does that make sense in this case? He withheld the good of a fixed car that doesn't cost $3000, right? Sure, if we consider a car and money as the most important! But Paul says
For Christ's sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the ressurection from the dead. - Phil 3:8-10
The greatest gift that God ever gave is Jesus! And the great gift that He continually gives us is Jesus. The "loss" of my car and money really mean nothing to me. Jesus will never leave me nor forsake me (Heb 13:8). What can I possibly lose? And if somehow being without a car for two weeks and being out $3000 lets me know Him even more? Then I count the car and money as rubbish.
Life won't be easy. Above, Paul specifically says that to know Christ's resurrection we must share in His sufferings. Christ suffered far greater than we ever can, but we will have our own sufferings. However, suffering never means God is withholding good, because God is never withholding the righteousness that comes from Jesus and the joy of knowing Him! If you are suffering, let it draw you deeper into your Savior.
Thank you for reading! Come back next month for another dead car story! Thoughts, questions, stories, whatever? Comment below or on Facebook!
See you next time!