Back on March 14th I was in a car accident in which our old van (1999 with over 160,000 miles) was totalled. After a long search we were able to purchase a new used car last week. I will use this car mostly for ministry as I travel to meet people and visit our house churches. We had liability insurance only on the old van so there would be no insurance help as we considered finding a replacement. We have tried to stay as debt free as much as possible and did not feel purchasing anything on credit was a wise choice at this time. This meant our budget had to be between five and six thousand dollars from our savings. But God had another plan!
Immediately after the crash, matter of fact the very first day, the Lord moved on a friend who heard the news to send us $300! Soon after a couple of gifts were given through the church from New Wine members. We were so blessed that God had moved people to give. Then several weeks later a very large check was given via clergy and churches of our Anglican Lighthouse Network. We were so humbled by such generosity and how this would ease the burden on our finances. By this time I had been looking at cars online and at several used car dealers in the area. I was very discouraged. Everything in our price range, though in very good shape outwardly, had 100,000 miles or more!
Then some friends of ours introduced us to Daniel Liversedge, a member of the local Baptist church. Daniel a retired car dealer, still sold on his own 20 to 30 cars a year he found at auction. He sells them to family and friends as a ministry. He finds cars with low mileage, sometimes with damage, but fixes them up so that the are a good deal. When I called Dan, he said he had just got a 2004 PT Cruiser with only 41,000 miles on it! It was at the repair shop so I needed to wait to see it. Normally a car this old would have well over 100,000 miles on it. Dan said he could sell it to us for $5500 which was in our price range.
The repairs took longer than expected, but Dan wanted to get everything in good working order. Finally on May 18th he called and wanted me to come look at the car and give it a test drive. This was great but the real blessing came when we went to the mail box and another check for the Lighthouse Network had arrived for over $1800! This was so unexpected. When I met with Dan after the test drive and said I was still interested, I asked him about the price since more repairs were needed than he originally thought. He assured me the his first figure of $5500 was still good, but that 6% state sales tax ($330) would be added so the car would cost $5830.
When I came home I asked Deb to total up the checks that had come in from all our different sources. The Lord had sent us $5836! The Lord had provided for us once again in an extraordinary way. This is not the first time He has met our needs so precisely. We are convince that this was the Spirit at work and that the "Kulchar Kruiser" is literally a "Gift of God."
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