God's Family

I’m not a car guy.  This is a well-recognized fact by anyone who knows me.  Unfortunately, Saturday morning our car decided to not start.  This resulted in me opening the hood, looking at the battery, and scratching my head.  Within minutes, I was texting my buddy Mike, telling him we may want to bum a ride with him later in the day for a party we were all going to.  He called me right back, and said he’d be over in a few minutes to see what he could do to help.  Turns out a simple jump start did the trick.  Not sure exactly what the problem was, Mike offered us his car if ours went on the fritz.    

After working throughout the day Saturday, Sunday morning found us again with a non-starting car.  This was more problematic, as we had a full day of visiting and church activities planned in Lynden, a good half hour drive away.  A quick jump start from our neighbor didn’t get things running, and I made a call to cancel plans for visiting my grandparents that afternoon.  My grandparents (in Lynden) told me that they would drive down and see what they could do.  Thankfully, my car ineptitude isn’t hereditary, and I’m blessed with a Grandfather who is quite handy with all things mechanical.  After a longer charge (and some apple pie and visiting) we got the car running again.  The plan was to drive up to Lynden and bring the car by Grandpa and Grandma’s, where we could check the battery and a few other things to see what the problem was.  

Becoming more nervous about getting up to Lynden to teach the rest of the week, my wife called her former roommate, Yuanita, to see about borrowing her car while she was away on vacation.  The answer was yes (no surprise, if you are noticing the trend), and we stopped by the Bosscher’s to pick it up on our way to Lynden.  Doug, the patriarch of the family, stepped out and tested the battery and cleaned up the terminals.  From here, we continued on and had the battery fully charged at my grandparents.

That evening, we met with our small group from church.  This resulted in multiple offers of rides if needed.  After church, one of the elders walked us to our car to make sure it started, and to jump start it if need be.

What I thought would be a weekend of annoying car problems has really shown the family we have found around us.  Each of these people was willing to do whatever the could to help us.  Even to the point of dropping their own plans.  I love having people I can call family, despite different races, ages, and political leanings.  It’s really helping me redefine what I call family.