Today's Project: Poor design

2:21 p.m. Today's project was to get up at my usual 5:45. Due to my mechanic coming over to check out a very bad leak from the Jeep's radiator at 8 a.m., I needed to work out, clean up the back yard and get water ready for the dogs--I feel like a little farmer, taking care of the animals at daybreak! After completing my quiet time I got myself ready for the day, and, before Steve Kirkwood arrived, I had my thrice-weekly prayer time with my prayer partner Cara. Isn't God's timing excellent, unsurpassed, and perfect? Psalm 31:14, 15 gives believers such assurance:

But as for me, I trust in You,
O LORD;
I say, "You are my God;
My times are in your hand...

I greatly admire God's timing when it makes my morning go smoothly; don't we all? But not so much when my mechanic tells me that he'll be looking for a 3rd radiator, because of an original manufacturer's defect in the way the radiator is fastened into its cavity. Don't ask me for further details because mechanical talk makes my head hurt! We all have our gifts in the natural, but also in the Body of Christ, remember, as Romans 12:4 tells us:

...we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function.

Bless his heart, Steve Kirkwood will be looking for a radiator with a lifetime warranty, which won't be easy to find with the 2006 Liberty's radiator leaking in less time than its own factory warranty gives it. And because it's the placement, not the product, there's been no recall and the dealer hasn't yet offered me a free service or replacement! I'm not even asking for a price on the new radiator, but I was advised to check the radiator's fluid level daily, with a flashlight to be absolutely sure the fluid level is good.

"No big," you might think, but the reason I haven't done that lately is a small matter of the steel hood of the car crashing down on my head on August 6th! Talk about a whopping headache, yet being grateful that it didn't land a few inches lower and break my neck. Apparently, the long and heavy PVC pipe I was using to prop up the hood gave way, for the only time in scores of oil additions and radiator checks, when I bumped into it unawares. My mechanic said, "Prop the hood up on the opposite side of where you're working." Well, that would be very obvious to a mechanically inclined person with eye-hand coordination and strength in that side of the brain, but hallelujah that thus-gifted people make themselves available to the hapless folk in need.

You'll notice that I'm not discussing potential expense because God used my blogging just now to remind me of something! While skimming through my pictures on this computer for a picture of the Jeep [and finding one of son Steven repairing his identical one] I passed through so many events and daily happenings I've photoed that caused severe financial strain or serious hours of hassle, like past repairs on our property, or spending the day in West LA to get Steven's passport for him prior to his sponsored trip to Canada for a photo shoot.

I remember bemoaning costs of time and money before leaving each situation with the Lord, and just going forward with my duty as required by each situation. There's nothing I could have done to either prevent or cause the radiator's leak, but I assure you that God knew the expense was upcoming. and knowing all things that happen to me before the foundation of the world, He will show me what to do and when, and how to pay for it.