It was just over a year ago now that the Miracle Mobile came into our lives. We knew the Lord had told us to hit the road for Mexico and every day I was scouring the newspapers and looking online for the perfect vehicle.
One day, after a time of prayer, I decided to check Craigslist one more time. When I typed in my criteria, the first van to pull up was one that I had looked at many times before. It happened to belong to the parents of my little sister’s boyfriend. After calling and making arrangements, we scheduled a day to drive up to Denver and take it for a test drive.
Before we even got there and without any discussion about it, Rachel and I both had unique experiences of feeling lead to simply ask them to give us this van. When we finally talked about it, we both thought there would be no way! The day we drove up to their house, I had one of those hazy, slow-motion experiences when I saw the van for the first time. I thought, “This is going to be in our lives for a long time.”
As we drove it around that day, we kept looking for imperfections or problems we could use to bring up in our negotiations. We couldn’t find any. We were in love.
That night as we drove back over to their house, you could feel the tension in the air between us. We decided that I would do the talking, however, I was having a hard time moving past the small talk and getting to the point. After much too long of a period, Rachel gave me one of those looks and I knew it was now or never. I finally said something to the effect of, “We love your van and it’s perfect for us. We would like to offer you half your asking price, or if you’d rather, you can give us the van and we can give you a tax-deduction.” They looked at each other and after a brief silence I offered for us to leave the room so they could discuss it. But just as quick as that, they turned back to us and said they would take the tax-deduction. We were beside ourselves with joy and couldn’t believe what we were hearing. Now we had a van, and money to head down to Mexico!
We parked our new van outside our bedroom window and many times during that night I got up to check on it and to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. When you envision something for so long and believe with your whole heart that the Lord will provide, it’s always an INCREDIBLE experience when it comes to pass.
Thank you Ernie and Kathy for your generous gift! It has blessed our family and our ministry beyond compare.
One day, after a time of prayer, I decided to check Craigslist one more time. When I typed in my criteria, the first van to pull up was one that I had looked at many times before. It happened to belong to the parents of my little sister’s boyfriend. After calling and making arrangements, we scheduled a day to drive up to Denver and take it for a test drive.
Before we even got there and without any discussion about it, Rachel and I both had unique experiences of feeling lead to simply ask them to give us this van. When we finally talked about it, we both thought there would be no way! The day we drove up to their house, I had one of those hazy, slow-motion experiences when I saw the van for the first time. I thought, “This is going to be in our lives for a long time.”
As we drove it around that day, we kept looking for imperfections or problems we could use to bring up in our negotiations. We couldn’t find any. We were in love.
That night as we drove back over to their house, you could feel the tension in the air between us. We decided that I would do the talking, however, I was having a hard time moving past the small talk and getting to the point. After much too long of a period, Rachel gave me one of those looks and I knew it was now or never. I finally said something to the effect of, “We love your van and it’s perfect for us. We would like to offer you half your asking price, or if you’d rather, you can give us the van and we can give you a tax-deduction.” They looked at each other and after a brief silence I offered for us to leave the room so they could discuss it. But just as quick as that, they turned back to us and said they would take the tax-deduction. We were beside ourselves with joy and couldn’t believe what we were hearing. Now we had a van, and money to head down to Mexico!
We parked our new van outside our bedroom window and many times during that night I got up to check on it and to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. When you envision something for so long and believe with your whole heart that the Lord will provide, it’s always an INCREDIBLE experience when it comes to pass.
Thank you Ernie and Kathy for your generous gift! It has blessed our family and our ministry beyond compare.
