The End of an Era

It was an incredibly sad day yesterday as I dropped my 1994 Teal Blue Oldsmobile Cutluss Supreme at the used car dealership. This car has been through a great deal with me. It was purchased on August 21, 2001 and lasted nearly six years. August 21st, 2001 was only a couple of days before my first day of college my freshman year. I had just turned 19 and my parents brought it to me and met me at A & G Steakhouse in Maryville, Mo for my birthday.

This car went through three semesters at Northwest MO State U. It went through three years of Bible college at Ozark. It went an entire year of every weekend driving three hours one way between Joplin and St. Joe for an internship at Central Christian. It made the move here to Indiana a short 17 months ago, and three months ago it began its downward spiral into a car that could only last two miles before it would overheat. She was purchased with 83,000 miles and dropped off with a meager 192,000 miles. I believe I definately got my money's worth out of her.

We began our search for a different car a couple of months ago, and a couple of weeks ago, right before we left for Atlanta we came accross a 2001 Chevy Blazer. It was still there when we got back and we decided to go ahead and get it this week. This is a picture of it.

This week has been a bit hectic. We got back Friday and I had to preach on Sunday. I spent all day Saturday finishing up the manuscript to the sermon. Then Monday morning we got some horrible news. A couple in our church who lost their daughter to a skiing accident only 14 months ago, lost their son in a motorcycle accident that Monday morning. This was the couple that we lived with when we first moved here while trying to sell our old house and buy a new one. I've never encountered a couple with such great faith, even in the midst of a horrific trial. Please pray for John and Jan if you would this week as they deal with all of this.



Jessica is 30 weeks along today (just 10 weeks to go). It's hard to believe that we're going to be parents in about 2 months...what a crazy thought. She is feeling pretty good except for having to head to the bathroom every 5 minutes.

Tomorrow we get to take a group of 50 people to the Gary Railcats minor league baseball game. It should be pretty fun. We're looking forward to a less busy week next week.