If the Lord had not been on my side

This is my version of Psalm 124:

If the Lord had not been my our side

when my car was giving trouble

I would have been stuck somewhere on the side of the road

or gotten into an accident because my brakes had failed

Praise be to the Lord

who made sure that I had help

who provided me with food to eat and a place to sleep

and a mechanic who was able to rectify the problem

My help is in the name of the Lord

The maker of heaven and earth

So here is the story behind my psalm...

One month ago, I got into my car to drive to church, but when I turned the key in the ignition it refused to start. Thankfully I was by my brother's house and his wife was able to give me a jump start (thanks Sarah!) The next morning it refused to start again, and my church family who I spent the night by went up and down the street until they found a neighbour who had jumper cables (thanks Lawrence!) I drove straight to the place I usually get my car batteries from. By this time, the battery was fully charged, and they could not find anything wrong with it. However it was over 2 years old so they agreed to replace it.

For the rest of that week, my car started fine until Friday afternoon. I took it to the small electrician nearby and he said I had a current leak but he didn't have time to run the diagnostics to ascertain what was causing  it. Thankfully my brother had bought this emergency car starter kit for Mummy so I kept it in my car for the times when the battery died again until I was able to take it by the big time electrician.

Every car owner should have
one of these for emergencies

The following week I took it to the big time electrician in Gasparillo, but after some initial testing he was unable to determine the source of the current leak. In order for him to diagnose the problem, he said he needed to replicate the problem, which would mean him having my car when the battery died. I took it in the following Sunday evening and got a drop back home (thanks Lisa!) He predicted that he should be finished with the car by midday the next day. But what he didn't know is that the car would have started just fine on Monday. He still did some digging but could not find anything wrong with it, so he asked me to leave it on Monday night as well. Well guess what happened on Tuesday morning? That's right - it started again!

At this point, he said it made no sense for him to keep the car, because he could not fix a problem that did not exist, so I took a taxi and went to collect it. As soon as I drove the car out of his yard, however, I heard a loud 'Clunk!' and the car stopped. I was puzzled, and attempted to drive it and it drove for a while before I heard the 'clunk' again. I still wasn't sure what was going on because after that it drove fine but when I heard the third 'clunk' I pulled over. A man who was in his front yard over the road from where I stopped said, "That sounds serious. You should get a mechanic to check it out. There is one right over the road." Talk about divine provision! He went with me to the mechanic's house. He wasn't at home, but his father, who was a retired mechanic, was at home and he agreed to check it out. After a few minutes he diagnosed the problem - my brake pads had become unstuck.

My regular mechanic had checked them
at the beginning of September and figured
I had 40% life left in them. Guess he was wrong

He didn't have the parts I needed and when he called the parts places they were closed. It would have been too risky to try to drive home so I asked him if I could leave the car overnight and I would get the parts in the morning and bring it for him. He offered to get the parts for me early in the morning and replace it so my car would be ready by 9am and I gladly accepted his offer. I called Uncle Terry and he came to my rescue - thanks Uncle Terry!

Dinner courtesy Aunty Carol

I spent the night in Marabella and by the time I called the mechanic at 9:15am the car was ready. He had forgotten to tell me that he was supposed to drop someone to the airport at 9am and didn't have my number to call me, so he had gotten to the parts place at 7am and done the repairs early to ensure it was fixed before he left. Thankfully the person he was supposed to drop was running late so he was able to wait until I collected the car before he had to leave home. Talk about the Lord being on my side!!!

For the rest of that week my car started with no problem, but then on Monday this week it refused to start again. I took it back to the electrician and he still was at a loss as to what was causing the problem. He disconnected something to see if that was the culprit, and so far so good. Hopefully that would be the end of this issue, but even if it isn't, I am not worried because the Lord is clearly on my side!