ach du Shrek!

that's a phrase my dad says fairly often. it's usually in lieu of a phrase such as "good heavens!" or "oh my goodness!"

i use it now, sort of in that way... but it's a double entendre. Tirzah renamed the van we drive "Shrek."

ahhh.

Why Shrek? 2 reasons: it never ever ever ever stays clean, and when the sun's behind it, the silhouette looks like Shrek's head.

now for the other half-

We recently made our trek back to my hometown, through the oh-so-beautiful rocky mountains. one thing i definitely should mention about this part of the journey is that after spending 2 months all east of BC, I realized that seeing the mountains was almost overwhelming. there was so much to look at, apart from the sky and clouds and flat, which i have no grudge against; that's beautiful in its own way too. i simply realized that my whole life i've been spoiled by having so much to look at while driving, and i could see how someone who grew up in the prairies could possibly be legitly overwhelmed by the sight of the mountains up close. anyways.

we set out from drumheller, AB on Sunday afternoon and drove through the rockies to Vernon for the night. During our short time there, i must say, we were able to reconnect to some friends, and some great music was had. the next day we drove the coquihalla to the west coast. during that drive is where the exclamatory part of the German phrase comes into effect. As we were coming down a steep hill that marked the entry to Merritt, I was driving, and applying the brake... and the van began to shake. I'd only experienced shaking like that once before, and it was caused by a flat tire. i'd learned enough from that experience that when your vehicle shakes, get off the road- NOW. so i steered the van onto a runaway lane, and got out to check the tires, pressure gauge in hand... the tires looked fine. after checking the pressure, i was assured- they were fine. i called my dad, the one to call with car trouble, and he said it was probably the brakes. he advised me to put on my hazards and drive down the hill at 20 km/h, and find a chevy dealership to check them out. you can imagine the humility God began building in me as i watched car after car that i'd spent the last 2 hours passing on the highway cruise past me as i crawled down the hill. who says our God doesn't have a sense of humour.

When we got there and got the van in for inspection, the mechanics told us the brake rotors were warped and needed to be machined, possibly even replaced- and that it would take a while. so we loaded into the waiting room. and were there for 4 hours. during that time, we finished our homework we'd received from Lynn, and talked about memories on the road. and even though jess was sick, and mich and i were just eager to GET HOME ALREADY, God has showed me some of the ways He used that time. We needed time together as a team, undistracted, to get that homework done- provided in that waiting room. we had a chance to practice trusting Him, believing that he knew our needs and was going to take care of us no matter what happened.

The repair was finished at 4:15 and we gratefully returned to the road with light hearts. you can imagine what we felt just after 5pm when, faced with construction, the van began to shake once more at the application of the brake. we pulled off the highway with mouths gaping open. a phone call back to the repair shop revealed their guess: that becuase they had machined the front rotors, that it must be the rear ones acting up. we took their advice to continue on to vancouver, as their shop was closed and they wouldn't be able to help us today anyways. that was a very prayerful drive. God showed me to pump the brakes to avoid the shaking, and provided my team with the grace to not resent me prolonging the drive by driving a bit slower than the speed limit.

Today we took the van in to a shop here in town and they fixed our front rotors- for half the cost of what it was in Merritt to boot. God has proved his faithfulness over and over and over through these repairs. it's amazing. and it's tempting as i relay this story to my friends and family, very tempting, to gripe about the hardships we came across, and the eventfulness of it all. but it's been such a testament to God's presence, that I can see His hand in it all, even though the circumstances aren't exactly ideal for a traveling band.

a new saying has since come up in my head, and is resonating a whole lot:
God is good- all the time.
All the time- God is good.

Out.