Penniless in Phoenix

It’s almost 10 o’clock on a Friday night and Penny is not here in Arizona as she would otherwise be on weeks I am not scheduled to be in California. Amanda is having her big Children’s Cantata tomorrow afternoon. It’s the same Easter cantata I directed when my children were young. I’ll miss seeing my granddaughter in the play with my daughter directing. Duty calls here as well.
All my children have ministry genes in them. It’s a special thing to see them use those God-given gifts to impact other lives. I will keep praying that God will find a place for all of them to use their gifts to impact the church for the Kingdom of God. Penny won’t be back next weekend either. It’s Amanda’s final sermon at Garden Grove. Maybe I’ll get to see it on a DVD. Bummer!

Speaking of bummers, I had a close encounter with some ill-placed debris on northbound Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix last night. I had not thought that much of it when it happened since it did not seem to affect the drivability of my new Prius. I was minding my own business when all of sudden I see what appears to be a pile of somewhat shining refuse on my lane. I was on top of it before I had a chance to react. Had I swerved to miss the obstacles I fear I may have lost control and impacted the cars following me.

I actually imagined, in that moment when the world seems to go into slow motion, my transmission flying in different directions or my tires being flattened by some sharp object hidden underneath the unexpected obstacle in my path. Alas, all I felt was the feeling of the car going over a blanket—a sort of muffled thump. I looked out my rear view mirror and saw a cloud of dust and cars trying to swerve around the debris that I had spread over the highway. No air bag deploying. No tires rolling past me. No metal-crunching sounds emanating from my undercarriage. Just a smooth ride as if nothing had happened.

I did not think about it for quite a while, since the car was performing as if nothing had happened. It wasn’t until I felt a need to stop at a 7-11 to purchase some refreshment to keep me alert (I bought a Payday candy bar) that I saw the damage. Apparently there was something hidden in the bundle I ran over. I don’t know what it was, but it left quite an indentation on my bumper, grill, and spoiler. My baby had taken the beating for me and kept on running like a trooper!

All that remained was contacting my resident lizard insurance representative to find resolution for the carnage administered to my auto. In brief, my car is in the vehicle hospital being mended back to health. She will remain there until next Wednesday. I am saddled with a Prius wannabe—a Honda Insight. Can you believe it? It actually suspends air conditioning when in idle! What’s with that? This is Scottsdale! You can’t change air conditioning into ventilated air at will simply because you are at a red light! The car smells like something crawled in and died underneath the seat somewhere. I was tempted to complain to Enterprise, but I was afraid they would discover it was me.

Happy Sabbath!