Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

Saying goodbye to our "old friend" :)

It's funny how we can get so attached to our vehicles. As we give up our van today we almost feel as if we're losing a family pet! So many memories and good trips were had in that van. You served us well little white van, and we'll miss you... :)

We want to share how this happened and how God turned a seemingly bad situation into a true blessing.

After our accident a few weeks ago we took our van into a body shop expecting the dents to be fixed and the van to be as good as new. After all, the damage was pretty minor. But the insurance company declared the van "totaled," and now we had a decision to make. Did we keep the van and take a lesser payment from the insurance, as well as have to fix the bumper, pay to get a "roadworthy" inspection, and pay to re-license the vehicle? Or did we take the full payment from insurance, give up the van, and be left without a vehicle?

God knew all along what was happening, and he already had a new van ready for us! We shared our ministry in a local church a couple Sundays ago, and a couple we met that morning offered us the use of their 2004 Venture until we leave for Indonesia!!! We are so grateful for them and their willingness to sacrifice their van (they were going to sell it this summer) in order to help us in our time of need. We are continually amazed at the generous people we have met on this journey of preparing to serve in Indonesia. God is growing our prayer team, our financial support team, and is blessing us in huge ways through faithful people we hardly know, but who want to have a part in spreading Christ's love. It's a beautiful picture of God's design for the body of Christ. All of us have different gifts, different backgrounds, different talents, but we are all unified by our common love for Christ and what he has done for us, and we use those gifts for the benefit of others. So thank you to all of you for your prayers, for your gifts...we are humbled and blessed and give all of our praise and thanksgiving to the One who deserves it all!

The BEAUTIFUL 2004 Venture we'll be using to finish out our time here in the States.

Thank you!!! (You know who you are!)