Car Troubles, Control & Community
Most days I have a schedule set in my head of all the things I need to do for the day. I have things carefully planned out so that I have time to do all the things that I need to do. About a month ago I had a lot on my plate and within the course of that day it all came crashing down.
On this particular day I had planned to take my car to the mechanic, hang out with my boyfriend, pick up my car, go to work then hang out with a friend. I had it planned out that I would drop my car off at the shop when it opened and then pick it up at 2:30 which would give me enough time to drive across town to be at work at 3:30.
In the morning everything went as planned.
Around noon I get a text from a friend, asking for some help with her car. She needed a jump. I was hanging out with my boyfriend about 10 min from her house so we went over to jump her car with his. When we get there, they start hooking up the jumper cables and I step to the side of the house to call my mechanic. As I call I am assuming that they will be more than half way done and ready at the time they said they would.
I find out that's not the case. They tell me that the car will be done at 5pm. I went into a panic, I needed to pick up the girl I babysit from school at 3:40 and without a car that would be difficult especially since she had an appointment right after school that was about 20 minutes away from her school. I asked the mechanic if there was any way they would be able to make their original deadline, he wasn't sure. So I told him I would call back later to check in.
I went back to the two cars to see if the jump was successful. It wasn't. We decided to take the battery out to see if it was dead or not. We went to a pep boys or something like that. I was watching the clock like a hawk hoping that I would get a call saying that my car was finished. We find out that my friend's battery is fine so it has to be something else in her engine that isn't working. We head back to her house and I call again to see what progress the mechanics have made.
This time they tell me it will be done by 4pm. That's still to late. It was just getting closer and closer for me to go to work. And I knew that it would be hard for my boss to find another babysitter only an hour before his child needed to be picked up from school. I couldn't borrow my boyfriends car because its a stick and I don't know how to drive it.
At that point my boyfriend throws out an idea, he offered to drive me to work and all the places I needed to go. At first I didn't go for it, I wasn't sure if that would come off as unprofessional or if the parents would think it's weird that a complete stranger is picking up their daughter. But as I thought about it I realized I would have to accept his offer, it was the only thing I could do. So I texted my boss to explain the situation, he was fine with my boyfriend driving me around.
So the new plan was to pick up the girl from school, take her to her appointment, get something to eat while we wait for her, drop her off at home then race back to the mechanic to get my car before they close at 6pm.
For the next two hours I had so much anxiety I wanted to make sure that everything happened on time and that I got my car back. After we dropped off the girl I was watching the clock as we tried to get back to east LA. I soon realized that we were not going to make it in time so I call the mechanic to tell them I would pick up the car the next morning.
At that moment I thought that everything was going to be okay.
Until I realized that I gave the mechanic my keys...all my keys (assuming that I would have them back by 2:30). I was locked out and my roommate had gone out of town this morning, she would be back till the following day. She told me there was a spare key. It was at a friends house. That friend was also out of town. And my roommate didn't have the address to this house. She gave me some directions but without an address we couldn't locate the house so that we could then try to find the lock box in the backyard.
I remembered that the girl who used to live in my apartment still had a key. So I call her, she is not in town but will be home later. At this point my boyfriend has to go to work so he drops me off at a friends house (the one with the broken car, obviously she wasn't going anywhere). Eventually I was picked up by the ex-roommate and given the spare key.
As I laid in my own bed thinking about how crazy the day had been, I asked myself, "What was God doing today?"
I realized that when things go wrong and I have no control over it or can't fix anything...I freak out. But when I can't do anything that's when God uses others to bless me. The community I have around me supported me every step of the way. My wonderful boyfriend drove me around the whole day, a friend let me crash at her house until another friend came to give me a spare key and drive me home.
I like to have everything planned out and be able to do the things that I want to do on my own. But we are not supposed to live without community, we can't even if we tried. God uses community to show us love. I don't know what I would have done without the supportive community I have around me. The thing is I need to be okay with accepting their help. I want to do things independently but God made us to be interdependent. I have to leave my pride at the cross and walk freely into loving community.
On this particular day I had planned to take my car to the mechanic, hang out with my boyfriend, pick up my car, go to work then hang out with a friend. I had it planned out that I would drop my car off at the shop when it opened and then pick it up at 2:30 which would give me enough time to drive across town to be at work at 3:30.
In the morning everything went as planned.
Around noon I get a text from a friend, asking for some help with her car. She needed a jump. I was hanging out with my boyfriend about 10 min from her house so we went over to jump her car with his. When we get there, they start hooking up the jumper cables and I step to the side of the house to call my mechanic. As I call I am assuming that they will be more than half way done and ready at the time they said they would.
I find out that's not the case. They tell me that the car will be done at 5pm. I went into a panic, I needed to pick up the girl I babysit from school at 3:40 and without a car that would be difficult especially since she had an appointment right after school that was about 20 minutes away from her school. I asked the mechanic if there was any way they would be able to make their original deadline, he wasn't sure. So I told him I would call back later to check in.
I went back to the two cars to see if the jump was successful. It wasn't. We decided to take the battery out to see if it was dead or not. We went to a pep boys or something like that. I was watching the clock like a hawk hoping that I would get a call saying that my car was finished. We find out that my friend's battery is fine so it has to be something else in her engine that isn't working. We head back to her house and I call again to see what progress the mechanics have made.
This time they tell me it will be done by 4pm. That's still to late. It was just getting closer and closer for me to go to work. And I knew that it would be hard for my boss to find another babysitter only an hour before his child needed to be picked up from school. I couldn't borrow my boyfriends car because its a stick and I don't know how to drive it.
At that point my boyfriend throws out an idea, he offered to drive me to work and all the places I needed to go. At first I didn't go for it, I wasn't sure if that would come off as unprofessional or if the parents would think it's weird that a complete stranger is picking up their daughter. But as I thought about it I realized I would have to accept his offer, it was the only thing I could do. So I texted my boss to explain the situation, he was fine with my boyfriend driving me around.
So the new plan was to pick up the girl from school, take her to her appointment, get something to eat while we wait for her, drop her off at home then race back to the mechanic to get my car before they close at 6pm.
For the next two hours I had so much anxiety I wanted to make sure that everything happened on time and that I got my car back. After we dropped off the girl I was watching the clock as we tried to get back to east LA. I soon realized that we were not going to make it in time so I call the mechanic to tell them I would pick up the car the next morning.
At that moment I thought that everything was going to be okay.
Until I realized that I gave the mechanic my keys...all my keys (assuming that I would have them back by 2:30). I was locked out and my roommate had gone out of town this morning, she would be back till the following day. She told me there was a spare key. It was at a friends house. That friend was also out of town. And my roommate didn't have the address to this house. She gave me some directions but without an address we couldn't locate the house so that we could then try to find the lock box in the backyard.
I remembered that the girl who used to live in my apartment still had a key. So I call her, she is not in town but will be home later. At this point my boyfriend has to go to work so he drops me off at a friends house (the one with the broken car, obviously she wasn't going anywhere). Eventually I was picked up by the ex-roommate and given the spare key.
As I laid in my own bed thinking about how crazy the day had been, I asked myself, "What was God doing today?"
I realized that when things go wrong and I have no control over it or can't fix anything...I freak out. But when I can't do anything that's when God uses others to bless me. The community I have around me supported me every step of the way. My wonderful boyfriend drove me around the whole day, a friend let me crash at her house until another friend came to give me a spare key and drive me home.
I like to have everything planned out and be able to do the things that I want to do on my own. But we are not supposed to live without community, we can't even if we tried. God uses community to show us love. I don't know what I would have done without the supportive community I have around me. The thing is I need to be okay with accepting their help. I want to do things independently but God made us to be interdependent. I have to leave my pride at the cross and walk freely into loving community.
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