OK. Now I'm anxious to see what is next in this saga. Very cool  upon cool 
indeed.
Brad


At 01:47 PM 1/20/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>Hey Brad,
>How abouta cool upon cool.  Greg just took the title of the old van
>over to the junk guy and the guy recognized him.  A few years ago,
>there was a boy in this town who was dying of leukemia.     He was
>flown to Milwaukee at one point for a bone maro transplant which was
>not successful.  Our church got pretty involved in fund raising to
>help the family meet expenses.  They did not attend our church, but
>we learned about them because one of our members was involved with
>the Make a Wish foundation and Triston had made a
>wish.  Anyway,  when the boy eventually died, we hosted, and Greg
>conducted,  the funeral. The boys grandmother died abouta year later
>and Greg did the funeral for free.  These people are really
>poor.  Anyway, this junk dealer is related to that family.  He
>recognized Greg and made a small donation to the church.  Talk about
>tempting too,.  The guy asked Greg who he should make the donation
>check out too.  Greg immediately said, "the church," but do you
>realize how easy it could have been to pocket that extra little bit
>and no one would have known.  Man, the Lord is just all through
>this.  Amazing!  Praise Him for another opportunity to witness!
>Kathy
>
>
>At 11:56 AM 1/20/2006, you wrote:
> >Kathy,
> >
> >How cool is all that. Not much else to say, maybe the van died so Greg
> >could witness to the sales guy because he'll need God in his life for
> >something he is about to go through. Looking at the recent thread of Jacob
> >and etc. it appears we are cogs in a complex wheel we really can't see it's
> >entire circumference from our position.
> >
> >Brad
> >
> >
> >
> >At 11:28 AM 1/20/2006 -0500, you wrote:
> > >Brad,
> > >          Thanks for trying, but, evidently, by the time Greg gotit to
> > >the mechanic yesterday, the transmission was the only good thing on
> > >it.  GRIN!  Greg ended up going back to our friendly used  car  lot
> > >to try out new vans, well, new to us anyway.  When the mechanic had
> > >turned on our car, it roared so bad that he said that it just wasn't
> > >worth it.  Greg took it down the road to a guy who works on junk cars
> > >and, I guess that we will get about $200 for it; just enough to pay
> > >the car excise  tax on whatever we get next.  Even the junk dealer
> > >said that it was in pretty rough shape.
> > >          We've received a lot of blessings out of this latest
> > >adventure though.  First of all, the timing of this couldn't have
> > >been better.  Greg already has his sermon finished because he didn't
> > >use it last Sunday due to low attendance at church on account of the
> > >weather.  This means that Greg had a little extra time this week,
> > >whatever that means in the life of a pastor.  Secondly, Greg will be
> > >working almost full time at the post office for about four months,
> > >beginning some time soon because the regular that he subs for is
> > >having shoulder surgery and will be out of commission for at least
> > >that long.  It would have been a lot worse if the van had died then
> > >because Greg wouldn't have  had any time to sspare to shop for
> > >something else.  The third blessing came this morning.  Greg did find
> > >something yesterday that he can use, a pretty inexpensive van that
> > >will do the job, but the credit union that we have our loan on our
> > >other car with,  wouldn't consider extending the loan to this other
> > >van because it was too old.  Anyway, out of the blue, and the
> > >salesman has never seen this happen before, they called back and
> > >changed there minds.  All Greg and I did through all of this is just
> > >continue to pray.  We figured that if the Lord didn't want us to have
> > >that vehicle that he knew things that we didn't.  Anyway, when the
> > >credit union called back, they also offered a lower interest rate
> > >than anybody else and the salesman couldn't explain that one
> > >either.  It's not over yet, but Greg has been using the opportunity
> > >to really talk a lot about the Lord's blessings and provision to the
> > >salesman and the guy is just, sort of in awe.  Oh yah, the dealership
> > >is replacing the ulternater for free as well on this other van before
> > >Greg picks it up.
> > >          I don't know what will happen next.  I know that we aren't
> > >getting a high quality vehicle.  It's a 99 WindStar, I believe, but
> > >you don't necessarily want a brand new car for doing rural mail work
> > >anyway.  It won't stay looking new for long, especially on those
> > >nasty washboard dirt roads.  I guess that we're just at peace about
> > >the whole thing.
> > >          Ned, you had mentioned putting in $1,000 for repares.  Well,
> > >we had already sunk $2,000 for a new transmission last June that
> > >never did work quite right until the engine blew.  Also, last year,
> > >it cost us over $700 just to get the van to pass inspection and you
> > >have to get the car inspected every year so we were facing that
> > >unknown coming up this spring  as well.  As far as maintinence we've
> > >always been really good about changing the oil every 3,000 and
> > >keeping up with brakes and fluids and tires just because a well
> > >maintained vehicle will last longer anyway.  This one made it to
> > >214,000 miles.  I suppose that we could have replaced the engine and
> > >kept it going, but we just didn't feel like sinking another $3,000
> > >into it and then wonder when something else would blow.  I suppose
> > >that if it had been a horse we would have had to shoot it a long time ago.
> > >          Anyway, thanks for praying.  Just pray that we remain very
> > >clear about our decision and that if the Lord has something else in
> > >mind that we will know it before it is too late.  It's all in His hands.
> > >Kathy
> > >
> > >
> > >At 06:56 PM 1/19/2006, you wrote:
> > > >Is the rest of the van in good shape? Worth putting in a used engine?
> > > >Sometimes one can just exhaust the amount of money one wants to put in a
> > > >vehicle, but having a good transmission and if the rest is OK, 
> perhaps it
> > > >is worth it. Nonetheless I'll pray for the situation.
> > > >
> > > >Brad
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >At 02:20 PM 1/19/2006 -0500, you wrote:
> > > > >The van is toast!"  Help Lord!  Amen!
> > > > >Kathy
> > > >
> > > >Brad
> > > >
> > > >    Work is for people who don't know how to write songs
> >
> >Brad
> >
> >    Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it

Brad

   The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing