When we got here to Costa Rica we had one car and it was tough. Because it basically means we are together as a unit always. For those of you back in the states just think about that for a second. One car. So if two people need to be in different places at once or heaven forbid three places at once with three kids it is very challenging. Just think through the execution of that in your life.
We decided early on a second car is something we should purchase and we did. It was a 1987 Russian Lada Niva. We bought it for a $1000. We spent some money fixing up the motor and the dashboard which was torn up and the lessons the Lord was teaching us began immediately.
It was hard to drive at first and on more than one occasion I “battled the russian” like the time I could not find reverse and had to get pushed out of a parking spot by a couple of guys. As I started to roll down the window I pulled off the crank and so I had to just yell “empuje” out one of the side triangle windows. It was humbling from the beginning
I had big plans for this little car. I was going to get it painted and get a radio put in and a few other things like some new wheels and such. Nothing too crazy; maybe another $1000. I did my research and I knew that was about the cap for resale so I figured I was good. Then it happened.
One morning I prayed about the car. I prayed specifically about painting the car. Not a good thing because I could feel the answer was “NO”. I pray a lot and I often hear and have learned to trust what I hear in prayer. So my plans began to get altered. OK, so no paint. Maybe he meant I should not take it to get painted and I should paint it myself. Yeah OK that was dumb. But I was looking for a way out or around what I knew to be truth. I have been reading through the old testament and so often they did this. They would hear from the Lord and then something would happen or time would pass and they would be working the problem without God. I mean read Judges. GEEZE, over and over.
Anyway I knew what was right and gradually became OK with the yellow paint and siliconed rust holes. But the Russian was not done teaching. The car actually came with a name from its previous owners, “Vladi” but the kids changed it to “bumblebee.” I stuck with Vladi. But one day I took it down to the kids’ school through the pickup line. WOW. I was sitting amongst a lot of nicer cars, and for the first time I felt out of place. Out of place in the school and out of place in that car. We would joke about going to sit in Vladi at night if we were feeling less than humble and it was true that this car could instantly humble you. But the reality is that I was believing a lie. The lie that somehow it mattered. The lie that I needed to fit in and play along. And the more I drove Vladi the more that lie fell away.
Now it does not change the fact that some people might be looking at the car and be judging the occupant in it so I got a bumper sticker that said my other car is a Ferrari. Just kidding. Really I have no idea what people thought of the car but the lesson I learned was that I believed, if only for a little while, that it mattered when it didn’t. I talked to the kids about it. They seemed to be OK and no one was torturing them at school or anything so all was fine. I learned to ride in Vladi and enjoy it for what it was. Like an old jeep or something you could cruise in.
One of my favorites days here in Costa Rica was the day I took the Vladi down to a city called Tres Rios and went to the farmers market. It was amazing. It was like going back in time just cruising in my old Russian car to the market. What a great morning. So the more I drove Vladi the more I enjoyed riding in it. Sometimes I would still “battle the Russian” but still, others riding in the car seemed to enjoy it too.
I am unclear on how this happened but one morning I prayed about Vladi. I asked the Lord what to do about it and I could feel the word “SELL”. Man I was bummed. I probably prayed that same prayer 6 or 7 other times and always the word “SELL” and so I became resolved it would have to go. And one morning I told Jeannie that I was not listening to the Lord and that I felt the Lord telling me to “SELL” Vladi. Amazing what speaking out truth does in your life. I had no idea how I was going to sell the car. We just got the title like a few days before. I kept forgetting to make a flyer or to post at our school which I felt might be a good option and then I had a great idea. I told the Lord in prayer one morning, “OK, I will sell but you have to bring the person to me and they need to ask me.”
Two days ago I went into my Fonetica class and I mentioned to one of my classmates I felt the Lord leading me to sell Vladi. And the next thing he said was “Can I buy it from you?” and just like that Vladi was sold. I did nothing. In fact, I think I did less than nothing. The very first person I mentioned selling the car to bought it.
I kept trying to figure out why I needed to sell it; like was something bad going to happen to us down the road,? Was I wrong all along to buy the car? Did we need margin in our lives? What was it.? I trust in the sovereignty of God and have seen amazing things, but you know, I sure wanted to know what he was up to.
I gave the keys to my friend at school (told him how to put it in reverse) and I still think he had issues. And just like that we were back to a one-car family. Then last night I got the most amazing picture via email. It was their family hanging out in Pops (a local ice cream place) with Vladi on the very first drive they took in Costa Rica that was not on a bus or in a cab. They had been looking for a car without much luck. It was a freedom that they needed to experience and I think it blessed their family very much. I know it blessed me to see them enjoying that freedom. It made me thankful again that we have a car.
So often the enemy deceives me. He isn’t working to get me to doubt my faith in God so much as he is hard at working getting me to think of other things. To make me think that what I have is not enough or that somehow I am less than other people around me. Over and over I learn that what the Lord is doing has a whole lot less to do with ME, and a whole lot more to do with what He is doing AROUND me.
A famlies first night with Vladi