This is not solely for newly weds, but also for anyone else!
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many
kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything." (Jas 1:2-4, NIV2)
"A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit." (Prov
15:13, NIV2)
After work this week, I stepped into my car as normal to drive back home;
however, no matter what I did, the stick shift refused to budge. Weird! What was
I supposed to do?
I called the Volkswagen dealer to see if they could help me. They gave me some
pointers, but in the end, they concluded that there was a possibility the
transmission was shot. Not what you want to hear at any time, but especially not
when your car is only eight months old! In the end, they sent me a tow truck
that would be arriving within the next 45 minutes.
It was raining, and my workplace was now closed. It would have been easy for me
to fret, like I did in my younger years. Instead, I concluded that this was a
blessing. I was behind in writing down what my Heavenly Father had done for me
these last couple of weeks, so I wrote and wrote, and the time flew as if I was
on a supersonic fighter plane.
When I finished, I had only ten minutes left to wait for the tow truck. Not too
bad! Then my phone rang and someone from the tow truck company told me: "Sir,
the tow truck is with your car." I was a bit puzzled as I was in my car, and
there was no tow truck in sight. I started to laugh then. "It must be a tiny tow
truck, because I can't see it."
"Where are you, sir?"
"In my car!"
You could tell she was confused. When the tow truck finally showed up, I learned
it had gone to a different parking place.
The driver was super nice and quite professional. He told me, however, that this
was the fourth time he had towed a Volkswagen in the last 6 months. "You buy a
new car so that you won't have technical problems, but Volkswagen certainly
doesn't know how to make stick shifts!"
Interestingly enough, that dampened my mood. "Really! This is completely absurd!
Why would they do such a thing!" Still I decided to remain positive.
He dropped me off at home, which was kind, because otherwise I would have found
myself stranded at the car dealer, with no ride back home. The next day I
received the diagnoses: "The culprit was squirrels!"
"Squirrels?"
Apparently they had hidden about 25 huge pine cones in the vicinity of my
transmission. The service department at the VW dealership even saved me the bag
full of pine cones! I started to laugh, and I couldn't help but share this with
many of my colleagues and students. The next day I even brought the bag of pine
cones to work: all 142$ worth of them!
I wondered if the other 3 Volkswagens that had been towed faced the same
problem. The thought was truly hilarious.
My wife, too, got a kick out of the news: "Squirrels? Really?" And she, too,
brought the bag to her workplace to share the story.
It would have been easy to focus on the negative. After all, I had lost two
hours of time, then I had to go about 50 kms the next day to retrieve my car. I
could go on and on, but all I would have succeeded in doing so is making everyone
in my vicinity miserable. No way!
Truly, I had fun waiting for that tow truck. I caught up on all my devotionals,
the tow truck driver was nice, and we had a good time in the cab. However, the
most hilarious part was when I found out about the origin of my troubles:
Squirrels! That was way too funny!
In marriage, we will face adversity. We will either dwell on the negative and
make everyone, including our spouse, feel miserable, or we will dwell on the
positive side and take our trials with a smile. One will drive us apart, the
other will bring us closer than ever. What would we prefer?
By the way, I park my car on the street now, far away from these trees that have
pine cones! You can have my spot at the parking lot, if you like!
Rob Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
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The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.