rel

Well…it is…..or was. Until yesterday.

Those who know me know that I’ve been a devoted Jeep driver since 1997. Well…..yesterday, while I was en route into the office, it decided to offer itself up as a burnt offering. And so, with 210,000+ miles, it departed this life for Jeep heaven.

On a more serious note, we had just returned from the long road trip from Norfolk to East Tennessee (7 hours each way), with it seriously loaded down with luggage and the stuff of spring break trips. We had returned home and unloaded it safely. In fact, earlier in the morning, I had just taken the children to school, and they had arrived safely. That, too, was a blessing, because normally when I get into the Jeep, I would put my laptop briefcase either on the passenger seat beside me, or in the front floorboard. But, since I was making the drop-off yesterday, I had put it in the back seat. Not only that, I had actually put it up onto the seat, and not in the floorboard. Another small, yet Providential, act.

I was in a meeting when the fire began, so it was well under way by the time someone finally alerted me and I ran outside, furiously pressing the “unlock” button on the remote control (as though that might magically stop the conflagration!). The fire department was already there, and were spraying it down with a 4″ fire hose. I finally got the attention of one of the firemen and asked him to get my briefcase out, which he did, and it was intact and relatively dry. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the car, but it wasn’t. There was about 4″ of murky water throughout the floorboard, and the grille looked like one of the clocks in a Salvador Dali painting.

Later, fire out, smoke cleared, and the remains towed to a junkyard to await final disposition (at the mercy of the insurance adjustor), I went back to fish through the 10+ years of “stuff” that inadvertently accumulates under the seats. Soggy bags full of papers, CDs, cassette tapes (does anyone know a sure-fire way to dry them out?) in the trunk of the rental car, I headed home for the onerous task of pawing through it to determine what could be salvaged and how to do it. A couple of hours later, it was all spread out over the dining room table, ceiling fan on high.

As I sat down to survey the spread, my daughter climbed up into my lap, full of questions. With those answered, I could not stifle the laughter. She asked me why I was laughing.  I told her I wasn’t sure I could explain it, but  Wednesday night I will begin to teach through the Epistle of James…..which opens, “Count it all joy, brothers, when you face various trials…..for the testing of your faith produces perseverance….but let perseverance have her perfect work that you may be complete, lacking nothing.” And it was only Monday evening.

And it was then that I knew for sure…it was just a Jeep.