A Time for Everything

"A time to mourn and a time to dance."
"A time to keep and a time to throw away."
Ecclesiastes 3

Well, I write to you today with mixed emotions. I am overwhelmed with joy at the Lord's provision for us, and I am saddened by the loss of a good friend.



About two weeks ago, I nervously took my little Honda Civic (better known as the Farts mobile for the sticker on the back window) for it's yearly inspection. Inspection time for my car is usually like going to the dentist when you know you have a few cavities. You know it's not going to be pretty, but you hope the bill isn't too much. Fix a brake here, patch some rust there. I was hoping to get one more year out of her, but it was not to be. The car doctors said that she only had 14 days to live. My heart sank as I thought about our 7 years together. She was a good car. Taking me everywhere I needed to go and anything I wanted to bring with me. It took me through the snow covered valleys of Antigonish in frightening Storms to see my love. It carried all my belongings around as I moved from place to place in University. It carried more drums and musical instruments around than any car I know (I once fit a full drum kit, 2 large guitar amps, two guitars and three people in the car!!! Danny and TC, you know what I'm talking about!). It lived a long and useful life, 17 human years! That's like 100 car years, something like dog years. Needless to say, I was a little sad to see it go!


Katie and I immediately started our search for a replacement vehicle. We looked at used cars which seemed pretty expensive and then checked out all the local car shops. The Japanese cars were very impressive, but also carried a heafty price tag. We also looked at GM cars and soon matched up our budget with a little Chevrolet Aveo5. It's one of the cheapest small cars available. I was clearly looking for the quality of Honda in my next car, but the Lord seemed to be guiding us to the Chev. We prayed about it a lot and at one point we almost gave up because even with all the deals that GM wanted to give us, leasing a new car seemed impossible for us in our situation. Sunday came and different people prayed that God would provide a functional car for us so that we can do his work. Our pastor even put his big hands on my shoulders and prayed in faith that God would provide. Well, that evening, God brought two people to our house that gave us the exact amount of money that we needed to finance the car! It was amazing!!! Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus! The next week, we marched back to the lot and began the process of signing papers and stuff. Marco was a huge help and explained everything we needed to know. He passed all my tests and if anyone needs a car, he is an honest salesman (at Lounsburry)! Thanks Marco!


We are very humbled and very joyful. God's blessing is almost too much to understand sometimes. One name for God that I know from songs is Jehovah Jireh (Pronounced Ji-rah). Katie and I decided to name our new car "Jirah". It was a sad goodbye, but like King Solomon says: "A time to keep and a time to throw away". The baton has been passed.........