Requiem For a Car

As you may know, through the generosity of the awesome people of this parish, Wanda and I now have a new car.  Well, it’s not a “new” car, but it’s new to us, and it’s a lot newer than the cars we had.  We now are the owners of a white 2013 Dodge Avenger.

It’s a wonderful car.  We really enjoy driving it.  Still, the day we got it was somewhat of a bittersweet day.  You see, as part of the deal, we traded in our 2000 Buick Century.

It was the only sensible thing to do.  The Century is fifteen years old and has around 250,000 miles on it (I say “around” 250,000 miles because the odometer light hasn’t worked for years.  I’m estimating based on about a thousand miles a month, which may or may not be anywhere close to accurate.).  We have no need for three vehicles, and no place to put a third vehicle if we had one.  It just made sense that we would trade that car in.  Still…

That car and I had been together for a long time.  I trusted it to take Wanda from Wessington Springs to Woonsocket for work for several years.  It took me to seminary for three years.  That car and I have seen municipal league meetings, annual conferences, church meetings, family gatherings, and any number of ball games.  It never let me down, never stranded me anywhere.  It always got me where I wanted to go, and it always got me back again.  Even though the new car is much nicer, and I’m really glad to have it, I’m going to miss that old Buick Century.

But then, that’s the way life is, isn’t it?  Every time we move forward, we always have to leave something behind.  We may know that the thing we’re moving toward is better.  We may even really look forward to what we’re moving toward.  But still, there’s a twinge of regret for what we’re leaving behind.

Maybe that explains why death can be so hard for us.  As Christians, we know that heaven awaits us when we die.  And while we may not know what heaven is, exactly, we know it has to be a pretty awesome place.  And yet, to get there, we have to leave our life on earth behind.  And that bothers us.  We know we’re moving toward something better, but we still regret having to leave this life behind us.

It’s understandable.  And it’s okay.  It’s okay to regret leaving things behind, just so long as we don’t let that regret keep us from moving forward.  In life, we either move forward or we move backward.  We never stand still.  It okay to have happy memories of the past, but we should not let those memories keep us from moving into and enjoying the future.

So let’s keep moving forward together.  I hope to see you soon.  In my wonderful white Dodge Avenger.