This past week, I ran into some major problems with my car. With -40 degree temperatures, my car decided that it did not want to start, which is not surprising in such extreme cold. After that, my engine light was on, and my car was still having trouble starting. I called my dad and he was not too worried about it but thought I should have my friend look at it. I called him and he did not think there was anything to worry about either, but maybe get it checked out when I can. Luckily, there were some people looking to pick up shifts over the weeked, so I let them have mine and made a quick trip home to Marion. When I left Watertown, my engine light actually went off, and we were all reassured that there was nothing wrong. I drove all the way to Marion, which is about 115 miles from Watertown, with no problems. Then, when I got to my dad’s house he asked me to go to the store to grab something for dinner. When I left from there, I drove about a half a block when my light came back on and my engine quit completely. My brother was also at my dads house and he came to help me right away. It turned out that there was five codes on it, most of them pointing toward the fuel pump, which is very expensive to replace.
My first instinct was to be very upset and panic, as anyone would. But then, I thought about how much worse it could have been. If no one had picked up my shifts at work, I would not have been able to go back to Marion and my engine probably would have quit in the middle of Watertown, likely on my way to work. Not only would that have been a much worse place to be stuck, but I would have had no one there to help me. Even my friend that I called before would have been out of town. Instead, my engine quit just down the street from my dad’s house, with both my dad and my brother there to help. Also, my dad got a call back from our mechanic on a Saturday and he was able to give him some information and told him my dad could tow the car to his shop and he would get to it first thing on Monday. The only other problem I had was that I needed to get back to Watertown the next day to work that afternoon, and I did not have a car. Thankfully, however, I have an amazing brother, and he let be borrow his pickup until my car gets fixed.
There is so much that could have gone wrong this weekend. My fuel pump going out was just one part in what could have been an entire trainwreck. I could sit and be upset about the one thing, or I could be grateful that I have such an amazing family to help my though it, and that I had God looking out for my to make sure all the circumstances were as ideal as they could be in that situation. Life can give you lemons, and you can either throw them in the garbage because you don’t want them, or you can be thankful that all you need now is sugar to make the perfect lemonade. It’s all about how you look at it.
A New World On My Own 