God, Lamont and Alex

It's been well over a month, closer to two, since I've blogged. For one thing, my weekend job (assisting a disabled woman with her activities of daily living) started up again, after a six-week hiatus while she was in the hospital. I used that time to jump start my blog (thanks, Lisa, for giving me the nudge), and quickly got off track once the pace picked up again. Shortly after I got back into the routine, both cars in our family started to die (one broke down on the Blue Route with my teenaged son at the wheel; thank heavens there was no accident, just bye bye Toyota after all the oil leaked out). Thus began my period of salvaging, title transferring, and trading, which resulted in a sleek new Mazda 5 taking up residence in my driveway!

I'm extremely thankful for this blessing, as I now have several things that are definitely non-essentials but make the driving experience ever so much more enjoyable (i.e., air conditioning and AM radio, both of which were on strike in my '99 Ford Taurus), not to mention one or two minor add-ons, like working retractable seat belts and brakes that don't scream when you tap them.

And yet, I notice with chagrin, it took less than a week for me to start finding fault with my new toy. The cloth seats are a light sand color which readily attracts dirt. The horn is high pitched, much too feminine for my new "baby," whom I affectionately named Alex, since he's gray and manly, like the Jeopardy host. Today - horrors! - Alex got his first little boo boo, as I accidentally tapped my door on our fence when pulling into the driveway. And driving, which I've never been overly fond of, and at times actually resented for its demands on my concentration and alertness, has reverted to being a chore, now that the initial excitement has subsided.

In short, the honeymoon is over.

I'm learning from this - I should say re-learning because my head knew it already, but I guess I needed to prove it to myself - that no thing will ever make me happy for very long. Life always casts a shadow on itself, really; it's never perfect, although occasionally it feels that way when my house is tidied up just the way I like it and my kids are behaving in a way that pleases me and I have a new car in the driveway.
Therefore, I'm choosing to focus on the incredible way God provided this vehicle, not because it would thrill me forever, but because I expect it to transport my family and me safely and comfortably, and be a means for giving back to God's work. I anticipate using Alex for ministry opportunities which will have far longer effects than the temporary exhilaration of a new trinket.

Before closing, I wanted to put in a plug in for my dealer. After an unpleasant experience with the first one Ivisited (being basically thrown out when I challenged them on what seemed like a bait and switch deal), it was a delightful experience to work with Pacifico Mazda. They were extremely courteous, generous in their assessment of my ailing Ford, and met the price I had in mind. And, in typical God fashion, He brought me to their doorstep when I was literally on the brink of another (I was actually plugging the address of a different dealer into the GPS when Pacifico's salesman returned my call). The Lord arranged for all these pieces to come together when I felt a real urgency to move forward after weeks of planning and researching. The kicker: the gentleman - and I do mean gentle man, Lamont Dean - who assisted me with the sale had a set of praying hands on his desk with Bible verses tucked between the fingers. He called on Jesus to bless us as we drove away from the lot.

In the words of a missionary I once met, God is never late but rarely early. I would add that He is always right on time.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." I Thess. 6:6-8