God's Incredible, Undeserved Blessings

This last week we were asked to share about missions with our Sunday School kids, along with some other people. We showed them a map with our "area" marked on it and when it came to pray, the kids realized the need to pray for safety on the roads. We are so thankful for the safety that God has granted us these last few years. 

We have put on a LOT of miles on our car since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago. About a year ago knew that the car wasn't going to a lot longer and we began to pray that God would graciously spare it until we finished building our house. As we got closer to finishing the house, the worse our car got. David is our resident mechanic, who does quite a good job (and saves us hundreds thousands of dollars). However, the body of the car was rusting out and the parts alone to fix the cars' immediate issues were going to be $1500-2000.

Old Bessy, hauling firewood

Then God did something incredibly amazing that we never expected to happen to us. Something that you hear about happening to "other missionaries" in far away places. God gave us a van! David felt like we needed a van because of all the stuff we are constantly hauling to events, the kids and teens we transport, and it would be heavy enough to get down the last bit of our road that usually gets plowed last (last year he got stuck in it with the car). So for no reason that we deserve, God has given us this insanely amazing gift in the form of a 2003 Dodge Caravan!

Our new, unnamed vehicle

 Honestly, I wasn't very excited about getting a mini-van. As Go Fish put it so well in their song "It's Hard To Be Cool In A Mini-Van"
"...It’s hard to be cool when you’re behind the wheel
Of an eight passenger automobile
In a big bubble, cruisin’ down the street..."*

 So I thought it was pretty funny that the industry is trying hard to combat this thinking and so they stuck "Sport" on the back. I'm not sure I'm convinced it's a very sporty vehicle but I don't care so much anymore. It is glorious to get in to a vehicle that I don't have to curl my toes under while I'm driving because it won't make it up the hill. Imagine a vehicle that works! How cool is that!

So even though we've had Thanksgiving dinner 5 times now (3 Canadian and 2 American)...we are still thankful for God's good and generous gifts through His people!

*I just figured out when I looked up this song that Tony Villanueva co-wrote this song. After some digging I've deduced that it IS the Tony that we know and went to CMI with!! That is so crazy!