The ongoing saga of my car

Alright, I know I haven't posted anything in a while, but I've been stressed out by this whole car situation, and I've been on the phone for at least an hour or two a day for the last 3 weeks. I've been dealing with Clara Turner's insurance, my insurance (claims, adjustors, agents, total loss specialists, and much much more!!), banks, credit unions, used car salesmen, shipping companies, highway patrolmen, my parents, and maybe one or two more that I forgot about.

Bottom line, I'm ordering a replacement car from a used car dealership in Houston, which will be covered by the money I'm getting from my insurance company for my old one. It is the same as my other car, only it is an EX (the trim level above my old one) and a two-door coupe (which I'd actually prefer). Kim saw the ad for it on ebay and she emailed it to me. It is basically the same price as my old one. However, I did order it from a used car dealership in Houston (which seems good based on all the investigating I've done), and it scares me just a little to purchase a car that I haven't actually seen. After speaking with Jacob Hubik, friend and employee of Alliance Federal Credit Union, there is not much risk in doing all of this. It is being delivered sometime either today or tomorrow to Arlington, and I'll get it out here somehow or another. Today, I did get a little spooked when a highway patrolmen called me and said that the truck with my car didn't stop at a waystation and claimed he wasn't transporting the car commercially, it was for a friend named Pete. But after calling the shipping company and talking with them, it seems like it was just a dumb truckdriver who was trying to make up a story to try to get out of some trouble with the cops for not having proper documentation or something. I'm more than a bit anxious to get this car and have the whole thing over with. Further car bulletins as events warrant.

I don't have much else on my mind right now, so that will be all for now.

Car Update

My car is totaled. Sad day. Everyone should do something nice for me, like find me another one just like it.

Car :(

Short of myself or someone I know being seriously injured or killed, I went through pretty much the worst possible thing that could feasibly have happened today. (Okay, I'm sure you could come up with some worse scenarios, but spare me...unless they are really funny.)

Some dumb lady smashed my car to smithereens. I was eastbound on 4th Street (speed limit -- 50 mph) about to cross Indiana. The light was solid green both ways. I saw a black Dodge Intrepid waiting to turn south onto Indiana. She started inching forward right before I got to the intersection, but it looked like she saw me. Then, at the last minute, she started pulling out in front of me, just slowly enough that there was no way I could do anything but minimize the damage. I swerved to the right a little and smashed into the front corner of her car. I then caromed into two cars who were waiting at the stoplight to proceed northbound on Indiana. One of the vehicles was an SUV that I barely dented his bumper. When I looked up at the other car, I heard, "It's Abe!" It was Tara and Johanna in Johanna's car on their way back from the rec center. So now, mine and Johanna's cars are both at Lubbock Wrecker waiting on estimates to see if they are totaled or not. I drive my stinking '92 Nissan Sentra for so long without a wreck, and I get a new car and it gets smashed in less than two weeks. If only someone would have smashed my old car. Oh well. No one is hurt, and the lady who caused the whole thing was insured, so everything will get taken care of eventually. I just won't have a car for a few days, and I won't have my car for who knows how long.

God is good. No one is hurt. My identity isn't in my car. I'm trying to love the poor ignorant lady who probably shouldn't have a driver's license, but who needs and deserves Jesus just as much as I do (or should I say "don't"). She said she was going to dispute the citation she received for failing to yield to right-of-way in municipal court, but I doubt it will come to anything. She was probably just embarassed and depressed about wrecking a bunch of cars, and it is always easier to act like it wasn't your fault in situations like that.

Anyway, there's my story for the day. This way, maybe I won't have to tell it like 199482783 times.

Aren't you the sovereign God of justice?

To all my Christian readers, especially those who subscribe to reformed theology: The O.C. Supertones have some incredible lyrics. You wouldn't think it based on the image that they have. Most people who grew up in youth group remember hearing about them in the same breath as some shallow, Christian-ska-or-swing bands like the Insyderz or the W's. If you're lucky, you even might associate them with Five Iron Frenzy (slightly silly, but incredibly poetic and powerful at times). However, it is amazing to look at the theological development of lead singer/songwriter Matt Morginsky through his lyrics. His philosophy on church polity and how theology should affect our lives is incredibly mature for someone in his line of work. By far his most complex album is "Loud and Clear". I highly recommend checking it out. You might want to read the lyrics before you listen, especially since the music is a little different from what you might be used to hearing. I put a few of my favorite snippets here. This album has quickly turned into my favorite morning run music since I've recently rediscovered it. Anyway, the music really might be too much for some of you to get into it (it's a weird mix of white-boy rap, ska, and rock), but it is a far cry from his early lyrics.

"What happened to our voice?
What happened to our influence?
Tell me who will listen to uneducated congregants?
And why should they when all we have to say is
Bumper sticker doctrine and cute catch phrases?
Does this amaze us that no one will take us seriously?"
-From "Escape from Reason"

"If you’d saved even one man
Surely this is undeserved
But the saints by your mercy
Stand with you uncountable
Is this not amazing?
Isn’t your name grace?
Aren’t you the sovereign God of justice?
Haven’t we offended?
Did we not crucify?
Guess that we can only wonder why"
-From "Lift Me Up"

"See wisdom and knowledge is one thing that we lack
You’ve been a Christian how long and you’re still on Similac
So I call on Martin Luther and all the reformation
Back then the common people couldn’t read God’s revelation
You had to be a monk or a priest or read Latin
That was all before the revolution happened
But the fire cooled down ever since that generation
We put down the Bible and pick up the play station
And we can’t defend our faith cause we don’t even know it
We say we love His word but pick a funny way to show it"
-From "Return of the Revolution"

"The rain falls on the righteous and the wicked
Mine is not to reason why this is
In this I rest in this I find my refuge
That my thoughts and ways are not His
I spend my life on looking up the answers
It’s rare that I can’t find a reason why
But reasons fail at children without mothers
His plan is more than I can know

God do you really understand
What it’s like to be a man?
Have You ever felt the weight
Of loving all the things You hate?
Have You struggled, have You worried?
How can You sympathize?

I have spoken much too soon
Put my hand over my mouth
I can’t contend with You
Your ways are so much higher
And we pass through the fire that Christ endured before us
When You were in the wilderness"
-From "Wilderness"