Balaam’s Minivan

We have an extremely old minivan, 240k miles, that had basically stopped working.  The oil pan wouldn’t maintain pressure past a mile or two of driving, plus something or other seems to have gone wrong with the electrical system, it went for a couple of weeks of nonuse and when we tried to start it again it wouldn’t start even with jumping.

We also have a friend who is in a financial crunch right now and needs a vehicle badly.  She has quite a bit of experience driving truck and asked if she could maybe baby the vehicle back into being and drive it for a few days where she had a particularly acute need for transportation.  The lovely one has been giving her rides so we said sure.  She lives 10 miles out of town, though, so we warned her she probably wouldn’t even make it home.

It was one of those unaccountable things–as soon as she tried the minivan it started right up.  She made it home.

A few days turned into a couple of weeks.  One of our other vehicles went down and was going to be in for repairs for a bit.  We asked for our minivan back.  Of course, no problem, she said.  Our daughter drove it to the gym, where it promptly died.  It couldn’t be jumped.  Our friend happened to be nearby, heard about it, and came to help us get it going.  As soon as she turned the keys, it started right up.

Well, we can take a hint.  “Why don’t you hold on to it,” we said.  Yesterday at church she drove up with several other people without transportation who the ward had been giving rides to.  She’d been driving all over to get them.  “You sure know how to baby along this vehicle,” I said.  “To tell you the truth,” she said, “I haven’t done anything with it.  It just runs.”

P.S.  I think I have more spiritual experiences of this flavor because I’m willing to tell on myself.  It tickles my funny bone.  The Saga of the Minivan that Would Only Run When Given Away.