One final thought...

I'm going to go away from the previous post and talk one last time about our van.

In the fall of 2003 I was driving home for lunch one day before Thanksgiving and got hit by a landscaping truck that tried to make a right turn from the center lane as I was driving by him in the right lane (then tried to blame ME for it!). He totaled my truck, which was a blessing in some respects because, while it had been a good vehicle for me, it represented a foolish financial decision that wouldn't go away (that's a story for another day). Fast forward to Christmas day 2003, my friend James called me and told me that his parents had this van that they had been trying to sell for a while but couldn't (nobody would give them $500 for it) and asked if we wanted it. Being the ever optimistic man that I am, my first question was: "What's wrong with it?" (nice). James went on to tell me that there was nothing wrong with it, that it ran fine, it had 212,000 miles on it, but had been well cared for and was ours if we wanted it (his brother, John would even drive it down from Virginia for us when he came back to school). I of course said, "Yes" and then went on to tell everyone I could think of about the fact that someone gave me a van for Christmas. To say the least, I was excited.

What I didn't realize was that this wasn't just some van, it was the Larsen family van that they drove brand new off of the lot in 1990, that James washed nearly every weekend (or so he says!) and that had every receipt, service record and piece of documentation you could think of (as a car guy, it doesn't get any better than this, I had a car that was in perfect running condition AND I had a complete history of everything that had ever been done to it, I used to dream of buying cars like this). When we got the van, the only things I found "wrong" with it was that the cigarette lighter was broken (thankfully I don't smoke), the A/C needed to be recharged and there was a piece of brownie in the sunglass holder (never did get that completely out of it). It was a 1990 Plymouth Grand Voyager, not my first choice in brands (at that point in my life, I had very few things to say about Chrysler products), but it was free, no complaints by me.

SO WHAT!? What does all this have to do with anything? This van continues to teach me about God's love and grace and mercy and providence in my life. At that point in my life, I would have never purchased a Chrysler product, much less a mini-van (we didn't have kids nor did we see them in the near future...Lauren was born a mere 10 months later). I still can't believe that they couldn't sell a PERFECTLY RUNNING vehicle for $500 (in dealing with cars all my life I have found 2 general rules of thumb : 1) if you can start it, it's worth at least $500 and 2) if it runs and drives well, it's worth at least $1000, ask anyone who's bought or sold "transportation special" type vehicles and they will tell you this). It was as if God said, "Here, this is the vehicle you need and want (even though you don't know it)." We drove that van for over 3 years virtually maintenance free (I have NEVER owned a car that I could say that about), we put nearly 35,000 miles on it and yesterday sold it...for $500 (a van that no one wanted 3 years ago, that was only getting about 8 miles to the gallon and had almost a quarter of a million miles on it!). I still to this day believe that the only reason that the Larsen's couldn't sell the van in Virginia is because God wanted us to have it.

I know this is long and probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but I'm so amazed at how practical God's goodness is...even when it comes to old vans.