The Brotherhood of the Broken

April 15th, in addition to being tax day, is also the deadline for us to take our vehicles in to have the emissions tested. Since I am convinced that the MVD is the evil domain of the anti-christ, this is a day we dread.

Our van has been having issues with emissions for the last couple of years. The Catalytic Converter, which by voodoo magic cleans the emissions, has malfunctioned and been replaced numerous times. Our other vehicle (my beloved old Toyota Pickup ala Micheal J. Fox's in Back to the future only without the nice paint job and now 25 years older) has been overheating on drives across town and leaks oil, brake fluid, radiator fluid, water, transmission fluid and whatever else you put in.

We knew the van wouldn't pass, but Diane gamely took it in so we could get the ball rolling on the whole deal before we were required to place the mark of the beast on our forehead or some other fine just so we could have something to drive. That thing is at the shop now. Which reminds me, I need to call and see if they have made any progress at all. I waited until the 15th to take the truck in.

Since I have this nasty habit of digging life applications out of most things that I see going on around me, I was reminded of how difficult life can be. Things break down, go south, take a turn for the worst and gravely disappoint us. Friends and family get sick or die, we get sick or die. What we desperately counted on just doesn't materialize. We don't get the money we need, our friends let us down. I have, this year, seen some huge disappointments in my life, in the lives of friends and with my family.

So what do we do? We call out to God and let him know that we need his help. We even help him out by letting him know how he could best help us. But oh so often, that help does not materialize. So what then? Do we give up and bid him adieu and wallow in our sorrow? I suppose many do.

But others continue to wait on him to do his thing. Even when they seem like losers for admitting they can't handle stuff and when he doesn't seem to ever come and quite do his thing. At least, not in the way we had hoped.

By the way, the truck actually passed it's fiery ordeal. And sometimes we do get surprised by the way things can eventually work out for the best.