Modes Of Transportation

                       

 

Do you remember your first mode of transportation? I shared that my first mode of transportation was a Purple Schwinn Stingray Bike that got stolen from me off my front porch. So I decided to reminisce about my previous modes of transportation. The top two cars depicted represent my first cars. My first car that was actually gifted to me by my first husband was a 1960 Volkswagen Beetle that he bought from someone who lived in Big Bear. The car had the basic core of what was needed to be renovated. However, it was in terrible condition when he first brought it home. It wasn't lemon yellow initially and had been sitting in the harsh winters of Big Bear Valley. So it had areas that had rusted out. The integrity of safety was there, but on the passenger floor there was a large rusted out hole that you could look through as you drove and see the asphalt. I always feared someone would fall through, but my husband had repaired it enough to make it safe. It had no upholstery on the roof. The doors had their inside covers and the floors were renovated complete with welding and fixing most of the hole on the passenger side and then carpet was placed on the floors throughout the vehicle. It was a manual, so that is what I learned to drive. It got amazing gas mileage. My husband took it to his shop and did a wonderful paint job and painted it lemon yellow. He also renovated the motor. It drove me around for about three years. I had only one incident on the freeway with it, when I had exceeded the speed limit and the carburetor top hadn't been put back on, unbeknownst to me, so gas shot up into the engine which was in the back and started a fire in it. Luckily for me, a trucker saw it, waved me over and put the fire out. Before he got there to help me, my college books were in the back seat, so I jumped in and got those out in time to see the entire back go up in flames. It was fixable and I continued to drive it up until a drunk driver pulled out in front of me along with my Mom and little sister. We were going up Yucaipa Blvd. at about 45MPH and a car pulled out of the right side of a driveway. My Mom warned me he was pulling out and I told her surely he wouldn't pull out now and before I knew it, we were in the side of his truck and we sustained injuries and my car got totaled. That was the end of the Beetle. I recognize that God protected us as this accident was bad, but no one died. I had PTSD well into my 50's of a car rolling out of the right side of the road from a driveway. If I was a passenger, I would grab the dash and gasp. I felt sorry for my drivers, because I would scare the heck out of them each time I would flash back.

I had just gotten my first real job in San Bernardino and needed a mode of transportation. So I had received my tax return and had a great down payment to buy a used car. My Dad cosigned for me, but I paid for all of it myself. It was a blue 1980 Mercury Capri -- it was sporty and sharp. It had a sunroof. I bought this car in 1981. I had divorced and remarried by 1982 and in June of 1983, my then husband was due to pick me up from work. I was 8 months pregnant at the time and was still working. He was supposed to pick me up by 5:00PM, but didn't get me until 6:00PM and he was walking. I asked him where he parked the car -- mind you it was raining cats and dogs. He told me the car was about 8 blocks away in the middle of a low river bed crossing. He told me he opened the door to get out and it filled up with water. He told me we had to walk to go get it. So we did. Several people got out of their cars to assist him to push it out of the water.  Once it was out, he opened the doors and let all the water out of it. Then he tried to start it, big mistake, but he miraculously was able to start it and we drove from San Bernardino to Riverside using back roads at 10MPH sitting on wet seats. It was a mess and the engine was shot. It got fixed but the mechanic told us to trade it in and get another car, because it would just keep causing problems. Again, I believe God letting us get home that night was a miracle, because with water in the engine, cars should not operate.

Then came the series of vehicles I owned. I don't know why, but somehow, I was able to change cars frequently and always have reliable cars from the Capri forward. I owned 2 brand new Sentras back to back, a brand new RAV4, a brand new Quest mini van, a brand new Dakota Truck, a brand new Echo, a brand new convertible Miata (which I had to trade in due to a marital separation), a used Mazda Mini van was next, then a used Lincoln 300 (which I despised as it was a tank), a brand new convertible Fiat Lounge (my retirement car), a brand new 2021 Sentra and my current car a brand new 2022 Sentra. The 2022 Sentra was gifted to me. I drove several other cars that belonged to all my ex husbands that I helped subsidize. I kept my cars clean and they had to smell good, thus the reason I didn't make a habit of driving a car a man drove. You might say, I became a car snob. With the exception of the Miata and Fiat, my cars were bought specifically for transportation. I liked a nice car, but reliability and performance were my priorities. I'm sure I could have owned more luxurious cars, but that hasn't been my thing to drive something to impress. Because of God blessing me with financial resources through a very lucrative career, I tried to be a good steward of those funds. Sometimes I was not successful in financial planning due to extenuating circumstances (mostly man related). My homes and my cars were necessities along with basic subsistence and home operational costs and utilities. John 3:27 "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven."Matthew 25:14-30 The Parable of the Talents -- we are entrusted with resources and should use them wisely -- as good stewards.

In this life and throughout history, there have been different modes of transportation -- donkeys, horses, camels, trains, planes, automobiles, boats, jets, rockets, our own two feet, etc. In my contemplative moments in thinking about the rapture and/or my journey to heaven and how will that work. As a SDA child, my parents used to read me the Bible Stories right before bedtime and quite frankly, some of those excerpts were frightening to think of as a child. There are two in particular, the one about God destroying the earth with fire and it showed an illustration of people running from balls of fire -- for some reason, my Mom had a way of making me think I was on my way to hell. Then the story of the second coming of Christ and the ascension of graves opening up and our resurrected bodies floating up to heaven. As a child, that too was a bit terrifying as someone who doesn't like heights or zombie like occurrences.  Believe me, I shouldn't care about the mode of transportation on how it will happen -- truly, I just want to be in heaven.

I read in an AI demonstration of definitions for mode of transportation into heaven and I found a comforting definition in the midst of the different methods (it's interesting to read) -- Symbolic Journey: Some interpretations view the journey to heaven as a spiritual one, where believers are guided by God or angels. Now that brought me peace. My preferred method of getting there would ultimately be the rapture where I will be caught up (Greek: Harpazo) as referenced in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

To those who are still reading my blogs, I really appreciate you as you join me in my journey in sharing my testimony as I recall my stories. Thank you!!