I guess it started several weeks ago. The transmission started to go out in Alan’s Mercury Grand Marquis. The shop wanted $4,000 to put a new one in, and recommended another several thousand dollars in needed repairs.
Out of his reach, out of our reach, and so, Alan, who lives with us, borrowed our cars to go and find used books for his online used bookstore.
Then it turned out that my car needed nearly every part of the front end replaced. While we were doing that, my transmission stopped working. (But we managed to fix it.) And then the inside of my car started to smell like gasoline. The mechanic cleaned up the o-ring and the injector and said he hoped the problem didn’t recur because the car could start on fire.
Is the gasoline smell gone?
I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. It’s better, I think. Or maybe I’m used to it.
So when we gathered enough money to buy a replacement car for Alan, we took Kim’s car down to Madison to buy it. On the way, the oil light went on. We added 2-3 quarts of oil and then 2 more quarts when we got back.
The mechanic inspected Kim’s car yesterday, and scheduled a repair for next Thursday that might fix the oil leak. Meanwhile, don’t drive it if you don’t need to.
So we borrowed Alan’s new (used) Toyota Sienna to go grocery shopping, and as we were heading home, guess what?
The transmission went out.
There’s a word for all of this.
Adventure.
Adventure is circumstances that you don’t like when you’re going through them, but you laugh about and tell stories about later on.
Adventure is an opportunity for God to show up.
I guess I forgot to tell you that I’ve been praying for three reliable cars. Every day praying for this for weeks.
So, what do I know?
I know that God is our provider. I know He loves answering prayer. I know that He’s full of the unexpected. And I know that He’s already laughing because He knows how it’s all going to turn out.
But what about me?
What do I know?
I asked God what’s going on, and the best I can tell His answer is: “It will be okay.”
It will be okay.
For the most part, that’s how I feel. It will be okay.
But sometimes, in the middle of the night, I lie awake, and I can’t really sleep, and the circumstances of this adventure just swirl around in my mind. I lie there for a long time, praying a bit, listening to the Bible on audio, trying to listen to God. And then I fall back to sleep.
I think faith is like that. We have these mountaintop moments when we’re sure that we’re sure that we’re sure that God will show up, all will be well, nothing to fear. And then we have these private moments of doubt where Goliath seems so very big and we seem so very small.
And I think God knows this. He works with us, not just on the mountaintop, but also in the valley.
