Last week a coworker of mine had a daughter roll the family SUV and walk away. The officer helped her call her mother and tell her that she hit a small patch of rain water and that SUV's are top heavy so it wasn't her fault.
We have had our Ford Explorer for 8 years and realize we drive it a little differently because of it being top heavy but for some reason hearing that story hit me to the core and I decided I didn't want my daughter in it anymore. I have learned that I should follow these strong feelings that come from time to time.
When Jeanne came home from work I asked her how much she had saved and if she wanted to go car shopping. I wasn't sure if she would want to go but she transferred her savings over and away we went.
Now, I have become somewhat of an expert at buying cars. After all, I have purchased cars not only for Roger & I but have taken each son or daughter shopping at the appropriate time. We drove from one dealer to the next and wound up going back to the first and then making an even better deal than our first attempt. I feel happy to have accomplished the goal of helping each of the kids with their first car negotiation. We both felt like we got the best deal ever and we drove home happy but tired at 11 pm. That was Saturday.
Sunday morning Jeanne and I were up early. So much excitement! She went out and started unloading all her belongings out of the Ford and took pictures and I wrote a Craig's list ad and posted it and away we went to Collin's birthday party. When we got home we had an email that was sent 4 hrs earlier and I replied and we arranged to meet a man to see the truck after work Monday. The guy came with a friend, in the friend's car, cash in his pocket, and it just could not have been an easier sale.
Jeanne said "Well, it just shows that we were supposed to buy my car". I was glad to hear the underlying faith that she implied confirming her decision to make a major purchase. That made me feel good as a parent. Not because I helped her get a good deal and we sold the old truck, but because she was expressing her faith and this is the most important principal we have worked all these years to teach our little family.
As we send this last one out into the world, we hope and pray for them in all their decisions that they will rely on divine inspiration in all of their affairs, big and small.
