What Are the Odds?

It was Tuesday at 2:00 PM, three days ago. I was sitting down at the start of a meeting when Laura called. She was stuck on the side of a side street near our church with our van overheated. I headed that way, picking up some overpriced convenience store already-diluted coolant on the way. As I headed her way, I noticed the engine temperature guage on my car go up and down, with each cycle getting closer and closer to the hottest end of the guage. It was getting hot enough that I cranked up the heater all the way and rolled down the windows to make the heat from it bearable.

I was almost in the red when I pulled up behind Laura. On opening the hood to the car, I could hear the coolant spraying below the reservoir. I took a look at the van and saw immediately the busted hose that connected the radiator to the engine. We were now both stuck. What are the odds of two cars overheating the same day, stuck now in the same spot?

I called my parents who split up, my mom going to pick up the kids from school and my dad meeting us at the site of our immobility. We filled the reservoir on my car and headed south for Pelham. He headed to his house to drop of Laura and Mandy while I headed to The Garage (the auto shop in Pelham where we get most of our car repairs) and then walked over to AutoZone to get a replacement hose for the van. My dad picked me up and we headed back to the van, replaced the hose, and filled the reservoir with coolant. We then headed towards his house, me in the van, he in his car. The van overheated on the way and soon found out that the reservoir had coolant but the radiator was dry. We emptied the coolant into the radiator and headed south again. The heat kept going up again and I ended up having to drop the van by The Garage. By this time it was after 6:00 PM and the only rental places open were near the airport. Both cars were out of commission and we had no car. My parents graciously gave us a ride home.

This ends well, however. A good friend loaned us a car and brought it to us that night. Our friends at The Garage got both of our cars back to us the next day and the repairs were much less than I had feared. And I was reminded once again that God is in control of everything and that I should trust Him. I'm a slow learner.