the past week...

Well, it's been a while since the last post. Since then, Shannon has worked a bit at the preschool she works at: Canyon Rim Children's Center. Meanwhile, I stayed home, cleaned the dishes, made the bed, sanded a shelf a when I found time and brought Shannon lunch on the days she worked. When Shannon doesn't work, we generally take care of odds and ends such as getting her name changed, getting a new Driver's License for her and figuring out Car Insurance (which brings me a small rant)...

So Shannon accidentally collided with another car on the 1st of December, 2005. It's been almost 2 months and things still aren't figured out. If we hadn't made some calls this past Wednesday, things would probably still be moving rather slowly. Anyway, long story short, the damage done the car was minimal, less than $750, which is good for us, because it means that Shannon won't get a point on her driving record. The other driver is claiming injuries that seem (to us and the insurance company) to not match up with the damage incurred on the vehicle. Well, the other party's insurance was in lapse on the day of the accident. By California state law, that driver has no right to claim injury against us now. So the case should be closed, right? Wrong.

Said driver now has an attorney who is attempting to petition a claim (or so I've been told). I know I sound pretty stone-cold to the other driver. But really, I do sympathise with them. I would hate to have back or neck injuries. It messes everything up (in fact, osteophathy an alternative medical approach predicts that most ailments occur from unaligned bone structure) and you feel like a wreck. The reason this all bothers me really is because it's so impersonal.

I called the driver up to see how they were and see if there was any way to speed the process up. They were really cold on the phone, gave little information, offered no condolensces to us... (since their actions might cost us money as well). It was really discouraging. It's times like these when I struggle with condemning all of American culture. It's so easy at these times to criticize every minute detail of our culture and do nothing but complain. The main point that came up for me was that our culture is so unfriendly. We don't respect people enough to settle things face to face. We depend upon the court and government to decide our lives... But I digress.

This experience gave Shannon and I a really tough choice in following Jesus. We had to decide to love the other person in spite of their actions. We had to decide to not become bitter. We had to decide to truly love humanity which seemed more ugly, if possible, as a result of this experience. Most of all, we had to choose to trust God to provide and fight for us rather than claim our "rights." It was really humbling, but also very encouraging to see that God's way is not our way, but that it is much better.

Having just read what I wrote, I suppose our lives might sound sheltered, but I think these are the daily struggles of most people in America. The majority of us may not suffer from demonic possession, persecution or starvation, but we still must choose to follow our Lord in the simple things. I used to think that following Jesus was a life full of life-threatening experiences... and it is! but not how I imagined it. The life that's threatened in our day to day experiences is the life of joy. We must endeavor to choose to live the life of joy by faith and not fight for the scraps that fall off the table. The world in which we live paints a picture of "every man for himself," but these are not the ways of the Kingdom. Our Holy Nation is one of provision, love and acceptance. Everyone watches each other's backs and so we don't have to fight for ourselves. God's hands are always providing good gifts to His children and His children love Him by giving their love away rather than hording it or anything else from someone who has slighted them. The older I become the more simplistic the gospel appears, less dramatic I suppose, but definitely more applicable to daily life. I think I'm coming to see that life is less about the dramatic moments that "define" me and more about all those pesky decisions I make that mold me.

Anyway, we just got home from church and Shannon has made me lunch (yah!!). I'll probably post some more later today. ~Michael