Worship Time: "The Chasing Song" by Andrew Peterson

For your listening and viewing pleasure this week I present a light-hearted but neverthless-filled-with-truth song by Andrew Peterson...

I will try to post a picture in the next few days of our cute little 1992 Fiat Uno. It's in excellent condition, after years of pampering by a young man now in medical school. Just about exactly 24 hours after the hubby brought it home, it's pristine condition was almost ruined by a hail storm. I saw storm clouds in the distance and casually mentioned them to the hubby who was busy painting. He realized immediately that due to the southerly nature of the storm, it could possibly be bringing hail. So he quickly finished painting and then rearranged things on our covered back patio so he could pull the car under. And none too soon!

After that little adventure we decided we really needed to do something to the garage so it will be possible to park the car in there in the future. It's got a few some dozens of boxes at the moment.

This is stretching us because we are not of the tribe that uses a garage in this manner. Except for the one year the hubby, as a gift to me, cleared enough space for me to park my car in the garage over the winter. Notice I said one year. Because before the next winter hit, the garage was even fuller than it had been before. *sigh* It was nice while it lasted.

Obviously after 29 years of marriage, something has changed for my hubby to even contemplate the concept of parking-in-the-garage. After all, he didn't really see the necessity during almost 20 years in Michigan (save that one year gift) where winters can be brutal. (I've always thought that garages were probably invented by someone living in the frozen tundra of the north.)

So why the change in perspective?

Security is a big part of it. It's not really safe to leave your car in the driveway (or in our case, the side of the house) even though we're surrounded by walls on three sides and a locked fence on the fourth. [In rural Michigan we routinely left our cars parked in the drive, and half the time the keys were in it.]

And part of it is just the realization that this car, that we've waited three months to buy because the expense was greater than we expected, has to last us a looooooong time. We're not out in the work force any more, earning a living and buying a car whenever we want. Not that we wanted to buy a car very often. We've always literally used a car until it had to be hauled off to the junk yard. With the hubby's crazy handyman skilz he's always been able to keep a vehicle on the road much longer than most.

Those skilz will come in handy in the coming years as we continue to pamper this little Uno. Because now we are even more mindful of the cost and upkeep of a car because many, many people are giving sacrificially so we can be here as church planters. The Uno is a great ministry tool that will help us be more efficient and able to do more.

And that is why we'll be parking it in the garage.

Once we make room for it, that is. Some things never change.