That wasn't on the itenarary!

Most things in life need some kind of planning. 

It's the things that go haywire that catch you off guard. 

Enter the ability to quickly make decisions.  Have you noticed that your mind is already inclined to react a certain way toward certain things.  Take my mind, for example.  I'm stuck on the word "haywire" above. 

Being a missionary kid (MK), I'm always curious how in the world America came up with all it's idioms and phrases.  So I looked it up.  Apparently haywire was a light wire used in machines to bail hay in the 1900's.  And it used to go all over the place.  It was hard to keep it nice and neat if not secured somehow.  So after a while it became a slang word.

Wasn't that an educational rabbit trail?

So, moving on. 

Things went a little haywire yesterday.  We've been having problems with our '93 Toyota for over a year, but fixed it up and thought everything was secured.  Turns out the little monkeys in the engine sensor had other plans.  Guess they threw in a monkey wrench....

I'm on a roll today.  (I don't think we realize how many idioms there are in the American language!)

So yesterday we decided to take the kids to the science museum.  The plan was to give them something to do while Bill and I worked on our laptops doing ministry stuff.

But I guess God had other plans and our car died on us.  We hobbled off onto an exit ramp and called up AAA (this is one service we know we need).  Since we knew we couldn't all fit in the tow truck, I called up our faithful friend to see if she could come get us.  Yes, she could and she was on her way.

Off Bill went with the tow truck and the kids and I went over to our friend's house where they went swimming and watched The Waltons instead.  Not bad a bad deal.

Meanwhile, Bill was having an honest conversation with the tow driver who asked what Bill did for a living.  I have to say, this is one good thing about what we do.  People always ask that question and for us it's an opportunity to share Christ.

When he found out, he says, "I don't think it's fair that I should be punished for Adam and Eve's sin."  Bill answered with an example of grandparents who come to the USA.  The consequences of them coming to the USA makes their children American.  Is it fair?  It is what it is.  But the adult children can choose to go back to the other country and become citizens of that country again.  But they have to choose.  So it is with us and God.

Interesting, huh?  Something for us to think about as well.

So, the day did not turn out how we wanted it to and we are out a car.  We could have gotten really angry and think life isn't fair, but living by the Spirit, and not our natural responses, can help bring us to a different conclusion. 

Do we always respond this way?  No, my emotions tend to jump first and survey the damage later.  Which then usually causes guilt later on. 

But getting back to our current situation, we are thankful for friends who also walk by the Spirit and are willing to help out.  We haven't completely solved our car issue and how we will get around the rest of the time here in Florida, but we are trying to live each day in the Spirit, even if the hay wire gets loose.  ;-)