Grandpa and Nana live about an hour north of where I am for the summer, and they're also generously lending me their car (a 1998 Jetta manual!), while I'm here for my internship at MTI.
This dear car is full of quirks and charm, and isn't even much younger than me. It has been on the verge of an issue with the coolant for the past week, so I've been keeping my eye on the temperature gauge to make sure the engine didn't overheat. I dubbed yesterday my "exploring day", so I drove up to Palmer Lake and down to Colorado Springs, all the while watching the car along the way for any potential issues.
As the Lord would have it, after my full day out and about, it wasn't until I was ten minutes away from home and on a back road that I noticed the temperature getting too high on the engine and pulled off to the side to stop the vehicle. God had protected me the whole day, and honestly, the timing of this issue flaring up could not have been better (although that does sound kind of strange when I say it that way!). It's a good thing I stopped it too, because when I opened up the hood, you could definitely smell the engine. I don't know much about cars, but I think I can sense when the potential of danger comes near.
I called Grandpa, and minutes later had updates from him that he would come down to the Springs the next morning to take a look at it and potentially have it towed. My host family picked me up, the car overnighted on the side of the road, and Grandpa came to the rescue in the morning. He was able to drive the car to the mechanic after taking a brief look at it, and it now gets to have a slumber party with the other cars for the weekend, since they won't be able to work on it until Monday.
Since Grandpa was already in the area, we stopped for coffee at my favorite little shop, which was conveniently only a couple of minutes away from the automechanic. We swapped latest stories and he shared more wisdom with me about walking with the Lord. We even got to have sandwiches for lunch back with my host family before he headed out.
Sure, the car has issues. I won't have a vehicle to drive for these next few days, so that'll be an interesting adventure figuring things out. But the Lord has provided thus far; will he not be present and near now too? I honestly have peace about it all and am actually amused at the way it all panned out. The Father had it planned out (before I even knew what coolant really was), and he's even giving blessings along the way of this hiccup, like getting to spend a morning with Grandpa.
(Pray that the car would get fixed by next Thursday when I start up at MTI again... without a car I can probably find a way to get there, but it will be difficult! The Lord will be faithful though. He cares about the little things!)
Haha sleepover!!
ReplyDeleteSuch a sweet picture of you and grandpa. So glad you got that time with him!