Thank You, Grandma Ruth

Not too many weeks ago I wrote about my car breaking down on the freeway. Very exciting. And very ironic, too, because earlier that day my parents and I had been talking about how they wanted this car to last through the winter, and then we'd buy a new one next spring. So of course the motor chose that day to die.

Our choices: pay $4000 to replace the engine in a 13 year old car, or start looking for a new car. To my glee, we opted for the latter, which meant the Monday after my ordeal on the entry ramp my parents and I got to go car shopping!

Mom came down to Olaf to pick me up (since I had no transportation of my own), and we met Dad at the dealer. After a small amount of looking around, we came back to the first car we'd spotted a few days previous when the tow truck dropped off my old one: a really nice condition three year old car with all the great features: leather interior, moonroof, CD player (none of our vehicles have ever had one before), power seat, etc. It was just a really really nice car. And it was used, with a number of miles on it, so the price was actually affordable. The best, and also scariest, part is that they let me take it on a test drive. That was... fun, I guess, but nerve wracking at the same time.

We bought it. I had to leave to go help with an event at Minnehaha, and it was a good thing I left when I did instead of waiting, since it took Mom and Dad another several hours of waiting and writing before the paper work was all done.

Now, I didn't get to drive the new car right away - the dealer has a three-day return window, so Dad drove it for the next several days, including a longer journey into Wisconsin with Mom and Grandpa for a funeral, before I was allowed to wrestle the keys out of his hand and start calling the vehicle 'my own' on Thursday night of that week. (Dad is still fond of asking me how "his car" is doing, since he did, after all, pay for it, and I just get to drive it).

Why is the title of this blog entry "Thank You, Grandma Ruth"? Because, in a very practical sense, it was the inheritance money that bought the car (cash, no loans involved). So, sincerely, Thank You, Grandma Ruth, for buying us a very nice car for me to call my own.

I Think I Finally Get It

Not to say that I've solved all of life's mystery's, but, in short, I think I finally got it. I heard this song [Matthew West's "More"] playing on KLOVE on my way back to St Olaf this evening:


"I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again

And I see you
And I made you
I love you more than you can imagine"


I was singing along with it, and then I realised what I was saying, how that's truly how God feels toward us, how much God loves us, how much God wants to take care of us.

It's been a really, really bad week, but this was just what I needed to hear. It finally sank in: God loves me. No matter how much I've screwed up, no matter how much God knows I'm going to continue to screw up, God still loves me. It was an amazing moment of clarity. Thank you, God.