Rambling thoughts on my car accident
I have been thinking about my accident over the last few days. Not that it is at the forefront of my thoughts but I guess it is something that can't help coming up every now and then.
A comment made a few days later by a church member who was at the scene of the accident (but not in the accident) brought me much cheer. She was impressed by my calmness and went about handling the matter in a "dignified" godly (?) manner. She said it was a "good testimony" (?). Never thought of it that way. But I realise that the peace I had could only have come from God. Guess it is a small sign that I am "maturing" :-)
As I believe in the truth of Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I was wondering (as I prayed) as to what good would come out of this accident. BTW I do know that Romans 8:28 is not primarily talking about accidents etc but it is a secondary application of the text. And while I was not insisting that God tell me why, what struck me were the following (in my typically logical way of thinking!! :-)
For months I have been talking (almost every week) about wanting to sell my car and get another one. The main reason being that it was too low and it made transporting older people (and unwell people) an uncomfortable experience for them.
The other reason was that I found that the turning circle was very poor and being low there were a couple of very clear blind spots - front left side and the back (reversing). And my son Andrew was having major problems learning to park with it.
But I loathed the idea of selling the car as I love the car. Low mileage and I have kept so clean and tidy so well. I also get nice comments of how shiny and well kept it is :-). In my mind I could see my driving this car for another 10 to 12 years! And selling it would not get me much money despite its great condition.
So in my mind as I discussed it again and again with Jennifer and with Andrew, perhaps end of 2010 when we had saved up more money we would get a 7 seater (higher and can take more people) and he would take over the car as it had a great engine and was after all a COOL sporty car! All this despite my concerns for the blind spots
And so now the big crash and write off!! And I am glad as it struck me that if I being so careful and fussy in a lapse of concentration had an accident ... what IF my son when he gets his license as a new driver takes this car out and he gets hurt in an accident? He tends to go over the 50 Km/h limit when he drives with me -not because he wants to speed, but in a natural way as the car has a powerful engine so if you are not careful it speeds up without one realising it. For a new driver it will not be easy to have his attention having to be divided with one extra thing to watch out for.
And what was interesting is that he went for a drive with Jennifer yesterday to a busier area, and he found parking with her 1.3 Starlet a breeze and the handling less stressful.
The "money" factor would have prevented me from selling the car and now I have "no choice". And I think it is a good thing.
Anyway I am so grateful to God too for the fact that I am here in NZ. If I were in Malaysia, I would not be able to afford to get a decent 2nd hand car. Here we earn enough with good saving habits to have money saved up for such an emergency. (But looks like this means we may not be able to travel back to Malaysia as a family in 2010)
The church family here has been great with a couple of people offering to loan me some money to replace my car so I would not have to break my term deposit. I decided to decline their generous offer as that would be too long a time. And a couple lent me their 2nd car so I would not have the inconvenience of having to send my wife to work early in the morning and pick her up etc. Makes my running around for ministry so much easier. And a very nice car too ... an old Honda Accord EXi.S with leather seats! Ooohhh. I am spoilt ... :-)
Later today I hope to "negotiate" a better price for my write off as I know the workshop owner wants to fix it up and resell it. Here's hoping!
An added blessing is my mechanic (former Malaysian) who has been great helping me in this aspect, and even took some time off to help me check out my replacement c
ar so I would feel confident putting down a downpayment for it.
If all works out I will get my new used car tomorrow evening. Here it is though ... from the seller's photos
A comment made a few days later by a church member who was at the scene of the accident (but not in the accident) brought me much cheer. She was impressed by my calmness and went about handling the matter in a "dignified" godly (?) manner. She said it was a "good testimony" (?). Never thought of it that way. But I realise that the peace I had could only have come from God. Guess it is a small sign that I am "maturing" :-)
As I believe in the truth of Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I was wondering (as I prayed) as to what good would come out of this accident. BTW I do know that Romans 8:28 is not primarily talking about accidents etc but it is a secondary application of the text. And while I was not insisting that God tell me why, what struck me were the following (in my typically logical way of thinking!! :-)
For months I have been talking (almost every week) about wanting to sell my car and get another one. The main reason being that it was too low and it made transporting older people (and unwell people) an uncomfortable experience for them.
The other reason was that I found that the turning circle was very poor and being low there were a couple of very clear blind spots - front left side and the back (reversing). And my son Andrew was having major problems learning to park with it.
But I loathed the idea of selling the car as I love the car. Low mileage and I have kept so clean and tidy so well. I also get nice comments of how shiny and well kept it is :-). In my mind I could see my driving this car for another 10 to 12 years! And selling it would not get me much money despite its great condition.
So in my mind as I discussed it again and again with Jennifer and with Andrew, perhaps end of 2010 when we had saved up more money we would get a 7 seater (higher and can take more people) and he would take over the car as it had a great engine and was after all a COOL sporty car! All this despite my concerns for the blind spots
And so now the big crash and write off!! And I am glad as it struck me that if I being so careful and fussy in a lapse of concentration had an accident ... what IF my son when he gets his license as a new driver takes this car out and he gets hurt in an accident? He tends to go over the 50 Km/h limit when he drives with me -not because he wants to speed, but in a natural way as the car has a powerful engine so if you are not careful it speeds up without one realising it. For a new driver it will not be easy to have his attention having to be divided with one extra thing to watch out for.
And what was interesting is that he went for a drive with Jennifer yesterday to a busier area, and he found parking with her 1.3 Starlet a breeze and the handling less stressful.
The "money" factor would have prevented me from selling the car and now I have "no choice". And I think it is a good thing.
Anyway I am so grateful to God too for the fact that I am here in NZ. If I were in Malaysia, I would not be able to afford to get a decent 2nd hand car. Here we earn enough with good saving habits to have money saved up for such an emergency. (But looks like this means we may not be able to travel back to Malaysia as a family in 2010)
The church family here has been great with a couple of people offering to loan me some money to replace my car so I would not have to break my term deposit. I decided to decline their generous offer as that would be too long a time. And a couple lent me their 2nd car so I would not have the inconvenience of having to send my wife to work early in the morning and pick her up etc. Makes my running around for ministry so much easier. And a very nice car too ... an old Honda Accord EXi.S with leather seats! Ooohhh. I am spoilt ... :-)
Later today I hope to "negotiate" a better price for my write off as I know the workshop owner wants to fix it up and resell it. Here's hoping!
An added blessing is my mechanic (former Malaysian) who has been great helping me in this aspect, and even took some time off to help me check out my replacement c
ar so I would feel confident putting down a downpayment for it.If all works out I will get my new used car tomorrow evening. Here it is though ... from the seller's photos
ooh, looks nice! i notice that you tend to get white cars .... :)
ReplyDeleteglad that everyone was safe and it sounds like things are looking up!
Z
ReplyDeleteIt's silver actually. And I have little choice over the colour as it's a used car and engine is more important than the colour :-)
haha, yeah, i feel you. silver's great though! if i have a choice, i'd go for silver too! easy to keep clean!
ReplyDeleteI was told by some here that pigeons are attracted to white / silver cars. I had a white cart and I noticed that they do seem to prefer to "deposit" on it :-(
ReplyDelete*sigh* cleaning a MPV will be a lot harder than my sedan if this theory is true :-)
what??? that's crazy!!! that's really funny if it is true!
ReplyDelete