Impossibilities??? or...just bumps on the road?

When I went around to the Autoplus garage (right near Fr. John's where I was staying in Schreiber) c. 10 am my car was already running. They didn't even charge me any labour. I gather that it started quite easily after a night in the warmth. There was gas in the oil and so they did change the oil, but St. John's Anglican had already volunteered to pay for that. (Thank you.) Autoplus (Mike and Joey -- who looks like a short Eugene Levy) recommended that I change the sparkplugs.

Drove to town without incident. After unloading my stuff at home (with car running) and phoning Eric, I went to Canadian Liar and bought plugs and a gapper. (I did stop the car and it started easily.) Then over to Baileys'. Thank you Eric for helping me gap and change my plugs.

Then to Joe's Auto. The block heater is located in a very inaccessible place and so if it needed changing, it couldn't be done until a couple of days later (if at all). But it seems that the only problem was the plug itself. I haven't tried starting my car yet, but both Joe and I could hear the heater sizzling. Thank you Joe for changing the plug for cost.

However, Joe also disovered a coolant leak around some sort of sensor which his parts supplier didn't have. So he put a plug in the hole and gave me the sensor to take to the Dealer (or the Stealer as Paul Jansen says) for a replacement. Probably this sensor tells the fan when to come on. So this is not an immediate concern, but I do need to sort it out before the next heat wave.

So do I have these ongoing problems because of my sins? Or is Satan attacking me because I am doing God's will? Don't we (especially as Christian orgaizations with our lofty aims and beliefs) tend to see others in the first category and ourselves in the second?

And then there are the various happy circumstances which help me through these problems (St. John's Anglican's and Joe's generosity and availability). Is this God "sending Lisa to save me from the moth He sent"?

Or is it possible (he asks rhetorically) that many of our problems are a result of planning / management / foresight weaknesses through which God can teach us (to make better plans/choices in the future) and Satan can discourage us? This necessitates admitting that we are in the picture, too, not just God or Satan.