Hello all and Happy Sabbath,
Rachel and I are managing to stay busy even though Rachel's on vacation now. I am very thankful that I still have a Sister, brother/sister-in-law, and Dietrich friends alive and in my life. For an account of their recent accident but Divine intervention and all, please see this site: http://www.mybiblefirst.org/pathfinder/
I'm also very thankful my wife is still alive. On thursday, Rachel went to visit Afroza and Farouk Ahammed in Santa Clara about 2.5 hours away. For those of you who recall Dr. Mills speaking about a Muslim wedding he performed in their home, that's the couple. On the way, an 18-wheeler in front of her suffered a blowout. Rachel had no choice but to run over all the debris as she couldn't swerve into the other lanes. She called me at work and told me all about it and we had a prayer of thankfulness. On the way back from Santa Clara, for some reason Rachel started thinking about blowouts. She remembered what her grandma told her you have to do when it happens: "Hold the wheel tightly and focus on the lane in front of you until the car slows down." Less than 5 minutes later (and less than 5 minutes from home) her right front wheel blew at 70 mph.
Because of thinking ahead on what she would do, she did not lose control or swerve into other lanes and was able to maneuver the car to the shoulder. Unfortunately, she was on a long overpass which had narrow shoulders and no place to change a tire... She was also on a curve which meant cars could not see her until nearly hitting her.
She called me, I told her to call 911, she did and an interesting conversation ensued. She explained she was a traffic hazard and needed the police to shut down a lane so she could change her tire. The dispatcher asked her where she was. She said she was on Eastbound 50 immediately before the 5 exit. The dispatcher said, no you're on westbound. I couldn't believe it, but for several minutes the dispatcher argued with her about where she actually was. The 911 dispatcher refused to send the police, instead only sent a tow-truck to WESTBOUND 50. In addition the dispatcher got the incorrect name.
A policeman drove by by chance, stopped immediately ahead and came to her rescue (well actually he stood in front of the car and shouted to make sure she was ok.) They both watched as the tow-truck drove past on WESTBOUND 50. Fortunately the tow-truck operator spotted them and came to help 15 minutes later. The policeman was very upset with the 911 operator for not notifying police.
So what finally happened was the closure of an onramp about 40 feet in front of where Rachel was stopped, Rachel had to drive on the rim to that point and the tow-truck driver insisted on changing the tire over Rachel's protests that she could do it herself ($85 is the going rate for getting tires changed. Let me know if any of you have flats I can change for you.)
Rachel came home and the fun was just beginning.
I should have taken off work to help Rachel get new tires for the car but she did that manly duty and learned a lot on Friday (yesterday). First, she got lost on the way to Costco and called me at work for directions. Upon arrival she found that when buying tires you need to know what size, not just what car make/model. I got another phone call for that detail (I meant to tell her that but I forgot...) She found it would take about 2 hours to get the new tires put on and so did something that (I'm very grateful) she doesn't really like to do and that is shopping. After thoroughly exhausting what Costco had to offer, she wandered outside to watch them work on the car which they were just starting to do.
They informed her they thought the rim was too damaged to install the tire on and would need replaced. So I got another phone call and talked to the guy. I had thought of this and looked at the rim and decided it was fine. The Costco guy disagreed and refused to put the tire on. Sooo, I asked him what he suggested and he helpfully suggested several junk yards. He said he would give Rachel phone numbers and directions. I thanked him and he hung up. On the other end, he did not give Rachel the information but rather sent her over to look through the phone book for junk yards. After repeated requests for help, Rachel finally received help finding a suitable place to call and get a rim. It also happened to be right next to another Costco in town.
So I received another call for directions. (It's now 2:30 and neither of us have eaten lunch). Rachel went to this junkyard and requested a 15 inch rim. They gave her one and charged her an extra doller over the quoted price. She went next door to Costco, pulled the tires out of the trunk again and a very friendly Costco man informed her the rim was actually a 14 inch...
BUT, this man was actually so nice, Rachel and I are actually considering keeping our Costco membership based solely on his courtesy. He used the (mildly) damaged rim, told Rachel it would be fine, just bring the car back sometime next week when she had the 15 inch rim and they would switch the damaged rim for a new one at no cost. Also at no extra cost, they filled all the tires with Nitrogen.
So it was now about 4:15 when Rachel finally got home. I left work about 4:30 and we finally at lunch around 5pm. But the car has four tires, we were able to pick up Stephanie Brown at the airport on time, and we made it to church in one piece.
On another front, I guess we've decided to go to West Sac SDA church. We had all the youth over Friday night to organize a youth group. I've set up the yahoo group site already. We're going to do SS every week studying practical Christianity subjects and do a devotional reading plan together (Bible and Conflict of the Ages series in a year) which we'll probably study together Friday nights. Rachel, Stephanie and I went to church early today to try to organize a bit in the little kid's SS room. They have all sorts of old felts and stuff that needed sorted. We'll have much more to do on that front later.
I went to SS at SacCentral today to announce SWYC to the youth and young adults at SacCentral. Decided to go back to West Sac for church even though I'd be missing Doug Batchelor. Mario Navarro (their Bible worker) actually had a powerful message and I learned a lot. Specifically, he focused on the "witness" in Mt 24:14. The gospel may be preached to the world, but God is waiting for witnesses to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Of course, then you have to read COL 69...
God bless, Eric
Rachel and I are managing to stay busy even though Rachel's on vacation now. I am very thankful that I still have a Sister, brother/sister-in-law, and Dietrich friends alive and in my life. For an account of their recent accident but Divine intervention and all, please see this site: http://www.mybiblefirst.org/pathfinder/
I'm also very thankful my wife is still alive. On thursday, Rachel went to visit Afroza and Farouk Ahammed in Santa Clara about 2.5 hours away. For those of you who recall Dr. Mills speaking about a Muslim wedding he performed in their home, that's the couple. On the way, an 18-wheeler in front of her suffered a blowout. Rachel had no choice but to run over all the debris as she couldn't swerve into the other lanes. She called me at work and told me all about it and we had a prayer of thankfulness. On the way back from Santa Clara, for some reason Rachel started thinking about blowouts. She remembered what her grandma told her you have to do when it happens: "Hold the wheel tightly and focus on the lane in front of you until the car slows down." Less than 5 minutes later (and less than 5 minutes from home) her right front wheel blew at 70 mph.
Because of thinking ahead on what she would do, she did not lose control or swerve into other lanes and was able to maneuver the car to the shoulder. Unfortunately, she was on a long overpass which had narrow shoulders and no place to change a tire... She was also on a curve which meant cars could not see her until nearly hitting her.
She called me, I told her to call 911, she did and an interesting conversation ensued. She explained she was a traffic hazard and needed the police to shut down a lane so she could change her tire. The dispatcher asked her where she was. She said she was on Eastbound 50 immediately before the 5 exit. The dispatcher said, no you're on westbound. I couldn't believe it, but for several minutes the dispatcher argued with her about where she actually was. The 911 dispatcher refused to send the police, instead only sent a tow-truck to WESTBOUND 50. In addition the dispatcher got the incorrect name.
A policeman drove by by chance, stopped immediately ahead and came to her rescue (well actually he stood in front of the car and shouted to make sure she was ok.) They both watched as the tow-truck drove past on WESTBOUND 50. Fortunately the tow-truck operator spotted them and came to help 15 minutes later. The policeman was very upset with the 911 operator for not notifying police.
So what finally happened was the closure of an onramp about 40 feet in front of where Rachel was stopped, Rachel had to drive on the rim to that point and the tow-truck driver insisted on changing the tire over Rachel's protests that she could do it herself ($85 is the going rate for getting tires changed. Let me know if any of you have flats I can change for you.)
Rachel came home and the fun was just beginning.
I should have taken off work to help Rachel get new tires for the car but she did that manly duty and learned a lot on Friday (yesterday). First, she got lost on the way to Costco and called me at work for directions. Upon arrival she found that when buying tires you need to know what size, not just what car make/model. I got another phone call for that detail (I meant to tell her that but I forgot...) She found it would take about 2 hours to get the new tires put on and so did something that (I'm very grateful) she doesn't really like to do and that is shopping. After thoroughly exhausting what Costco had to offer, she wandered outside to watch them work on the car which they were just starting to do.
They informed her they thought the rim was too damaged to install the tire on and would need replaced. So I got another phone call and talked to the guy. I had thought of this and looked at the rim and decided it was fine. The Costco guy disagreed and refused to put the tire on. Sooo, I asked him what he suggested and he helpfully suggested several junk yards. He said he would give Rachel phone numbers and directions. I thanked him and he hung up. On the other end, he did not give Rachel the information but rather sent her over to look through the phone book for junk yards. After repeated requests for help, Rachel finally received help finding a suitable place to call and get a rim. It also happened to be right next to another Costco in town.
So I received another call for directions. (It's now 2:30 and neither of us have eaten lunch). Rachel went to this junkyard and requested a 15 inch rim. They gave her one and charged her an extra doller over the quoted price. She went next door to Costco, pulled the tires out of the trunk again and a very friendly Costco man informed her the rim was actually a 14 inch...
BUT, this man was actually so nice, Rachel and I are actually considering keeping our Costco membership based solely on his courtesy. He used the (mildly) damaged rim, told Rachel it would be fine, just bring the car back sometime next week when she had the 15 inch rim and they would switch the damaged rim for a new one at no cost. Also at no extra cost, they filled all the tires with Nitrogen.
So it was now about 4:15 when Rachel finally got home. I left work about 4:30 and we finally at lunch around 5pm. But the car has four tires, we were able to pick up Stephanie Brown at the airport on time, and we made it to church in one piece.
On another front, I guess we've decided to go to West Sac SDA church. We had all the youth over Friday night to organize a youth group. I've set up the yahoo group site already. We're going to do SS every week studying practical Christianity subjects and do a devotional reading plan together (Bible and Conflict of the Ages series in a year) which we'll probably study together Friday nights. Rachel, Stephanie and I went to church early today to try to organize a bit in the little kid's SS room. They have all sorts of old felts and stuff that needed sorted. We'll have much more to do on that front later.
I went to SS at SacCentral today to announce SWYC to the youth and young adults at SacCentral. Decided to go back to West Sac for church even though I'd be missing Doug Batchelor. Mario Navarro (their Bible worker) actually had a powerful message and I learned a lot. Specifically, he focused on the "witness" in Mt 24:14. The gospel may be preached to the world, but God is waiting for witnesses to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Of course, then you have to read COL 69...
God bless, Eric
Comments
Stephanie
See you at SWYC!