I Drove Around the World

Following the death of Kathy's father, Mam, in 2001 we inherited his car, a 1996 Buick Regal. Her dad was an expert in choosing cars that would last long and go far. I'm not sure that when he purchased it he had any awareness of how far it would eventually go.

I drove around the world in that car over the next four years. Not in the sense of actually circumnavigating the globe, but in terms of miles driven. The car came at a good time - I had just begun my MA studies in New Testament at MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno. A round trip to school put over 200 miles on the odometer, and I had to drive up about twice a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. By the time I was awarded my degree in 2004, I had added over 24,000 miles onto the odometer.

It would be a big task to drive around the world in one go, but taken in smaller increments I did the distance. It's a good reminder that big jobs can be broken down into manageable bites - something that Kathy and I are practicing once more as we prepare to move to Kenya.

"All good things come to and end." That's not always true, but it is in the case of the Buick. We decided to donate it so that ICM would get some residual value out of it. Yesterday the Cars 4 Causes representative came and collected it. Good-bye car - may someone else get the service from you that we have.