Sometimes you eat bear, sometimes the bear eats you.

Some friends & I went to a ladies retreat last weekend. In one of the breakout sessions, the speaker challenged us to actually write down the things that God does in our lives, so that we may share them with our children. She had a little paperback monthly calendar in which she writes a little phrase every day about miracles she has seen or ways God has provided. Then she uses that as reminders to make scrapbooks. She had two very large scrapbooks (possibly more at home) full of stories and a few pictures that serve as reminders that God is Provider and ever-present in her family. I would like to be more diligent about that, but I don't use a paperback calendar. I mentioned blogging in her class, and she said that is fine, as long as you print it, since computers crash. (But since there are never floods, tornadoes or fires, paper books are the way to go.) = )

Anyway, I'll be doing good just to write it down in ONE place, so I'm going to take whatever I can get.

My kids go to a music class once a week. Their classes are 45-minutes long, back-to-back. So I have a little bit of time to kill, but not enough time to get anything done. My car battery's been dying on me lately, usually from just leaving the interior lights on for 3-4 minutes. Time for a new battery. There is an auto parts store a block from their class, so I thought I'd stop in and see how long it would take. My son & I go in, ask for the battery, they assure me it can be done in time. The manager has a young kiddo install my battery. The contacts are so corroded, he has to keep going inside to work on them. It is 98 - 100 degrees outside, and it was a mess to work with.

He finishes with 11 minutes to spare! I insist he accept a tip since it was so hot and he worked so hard to get it right.

We drive away. Something's wrong. The engine is revving, going faster than I want it to through the parking lot. I put the gear in Park. The engine idles loudly.

We go back to the store and I go in and tell the manager. Of course I don't know what's wrong, just that something's not right! = ) It's like I can't brake. It keeps going and won't stop. He explains very politely, in his best English, that the battery starts the car, and that's all. It can't affect the brakes. I know that, but something's wrong.

I pray, acknowledging that my God knows how my precious baby girl is in a building a block away, and her class ends in 5 minutes, and that I have to be there for her because I don't know the teacher's cell numbers, and my daughter thinks my number is 911...

I decide I'll just go look at the engine. What else can I do? No one there will help me. I ask the Lord to show me what is wrong. My son & I go open the hood & peer in, as if we know anything about car engines. Sure enough, my eyes are drawn to a cable that is out of place. I know this because there is an empty clip right next to it. = ) It is pulled taut around the battery, the corner of it. I have no idea what it is, but I go get the guy anyway! I went to the kiddo first, but he was with a customer. The next person to be freed up was the manager. I said, "I found something. Come see." He came out there and said it is the gas pedal line. "So I was right?"

YES! I am not crazy. He unhooked it from the battery. I asked him to make sure it wasn't loose at the connectors. He muttered an apology, and said he would do it himself next time.

I was not mad, just very stressed. Okay, so I was a little mad and a lot stressed. At work that morning in my quick-serve drive-thru, I served at least 3 people the wrong food. It was not a good experience. So how can I be upset at this? It did not damage my car, nothing else was affected, we didn't have a wreck or anything. It was just a mistake. I sure hope he didn't lose his job over it. My being upset was like the parable in the Bible of the servant who owed a million dollar debt and was forgiven, yet would not forgive his friend of a $10 debt.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Matthew 18:35

It surprised me how much this experience effected me emotionally. I was really, really scared. Scared because I don't know much about cars. And because we were in a scary part of town. And because my daughter might be frightened (although she was in good hands, but hands that would have something else to do in just 10 minutes). When we got in the car, my son said, "Let's just have dad put in the new battery next time!"

Gratitude for my husband swept over me. Sympathy for women who don't have a husband or a dad to help in times like these also swept over me. (BTW, I called my husband, but he was painting a house and couldn't hear his phone.)

We celebrate our 11th anniversary this week! Being married to him has made me a better person. We trust each other, and have learned to work together, talk together, live & learn together. We've got a good thing going!

By the way, we made it back to my daughter's class with 3 minutes to spare. The Lord truly took care of us that day.