Olive Crest United Methodist Church
7180 North 60th Street
Omaha, Nebraska 68152

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Rev. Debra Tompsett-Welch

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Olive Branch Newsletter For February 2002

Making BIG money decisions,
Cars and Listening to God

By Rev. Michael Lee Burgess

As most crises do, it started slowly and I missed the beginning. It is just so hard to tell which minor annoyances are the beginning of a crisis and which are just speed bumps on the road of life. Well it started with my Lumina van getting an oil leak. A Big oil leak. It started when the cold hit just after I got my oil changed. I have since found out that sometimes oil filters start leaking around the seal if they aren't tight enough and cold makes the rubber seal shrink. Well I was putting a quart of oil in every two weeks trying to find time to either take it in to the shop or crawl under it when it wasn't too cold. Then I had to take off for the Evangelism Congress in Florida. (That is another story and complicated). I fly back, I get picked up from the airport, dropped off, and I am very hungry. I make an appointment to meet Kurt at the Runza and he can fill me in on everything that happened while I was gone. I jump in the car and get on 680 heading toward Maple. Then I notice that the oil gauge is jumping. Jumping? Oil gauges get low, or bounce up really high, or run where they are supposed to, they don't pulse like that. Now I was really tired from no sleep and flying all day long and no food, but it still took me until pulling into the parking lot to suddenly figure out what was wrong. We walked across to the local convenience store and I got some oil. Yep, I was a bit more than 3 quarts low. Oh my. And on the way home, it started making a funny noise.

A few days later I go into Frank Ellison's 66 station on the corner and he says, "Reverend you have a connecting rod bearing going out on your crankshaft." "Replacement is around 3 to 4 thousand installed." He could tell that by just listening to it knock, amazing. Well that is more than the value of the car, and it has other things that need fixing too. (It only had 189,000 miles on it). That night I help some friends move furniture in the snow and a then I help dad move some things back from Elkhorn. By now the sound is much worse. Frank says, "You have hours left on that engine Reverend, not days." Ok, I have to look for a car. Argh, I hate buying cars. Whine. My budget had buying a car in it next year. This is going to set getting out of debt back a long way. Sigh.

Well I start in; I do research looking at Consumer Reports, I get prices from the NADA book (North American Dealers Association, you find it at the library, it is what car dealers use to buy cars and what they are really worth), and I look at the Lemon-Aid book on the problems cars are having. My brain feels like it is going to explode.

Next Jeff Staben takes me shopping. I had forgotten how strange car buying is. Every one speaks in a language full of illusions. When I recover, Dad takes me shopping and we spend most of a day at a dealership. The guy makes me a nice offer on a Dodge Caravan Sport, he comes down 1,800 to around 12,000, which when I look it up later is still around 1,200 over the book price. I am in shock. Yes that is what cars cost, but the Dodge-Chrysler-Plymouth vans have a transmission that goes around 90 to 100 thousand miles and locks up. (The new ones are supposed to be better, but out of my price range). What is really important, a need, and what is just a want?

Trying to distinguish between a need and a want is critical for growing in the Spiritual life and now I need to practice it in the material world. I ask God to help me think. Well I need a wheel base long enough to protect my broken neck from bouncing, a seat that sits up enough to keep my spine straight, also for the neck, and something that doesn't sway back and forth. If I don't take care of my neck, I don't get much work done because my hands go to sleep and the pain slows me down. So that qualifies as a need. Then it should stop, and stop Right NOW, when I tell it to. Accidents are still the major cause of death for people in my age group. My life style, strangely enough, involves moving stuff, so a hatch back is important. Also because I believe I am responsible for how I use God's resources, I need to get at least 20 miles to the gallon so I don't feel guilty about using up too much natural resources and polluting the environment. So that knocks out SUV's darn it. (I have always wanted a diesel 4WD Suburban or Land Rover, just can't afford one). So I guess that leaves me with a Chrysler Van, a Subaru Forester or Legacy, a Honda Odyssey van, or maybe a Toyota Sierra van. Sigh, I have not narrowed down the field very much. The least reliable are the Chrysler vans, but they are also the cheapest. I am praying, but I just don't know what to do.

One of my people, Jan Morgan, had recently bought a van from a dealer in Exeter named George Erdkamp. EXETER? That is about 2 hours away, one-way. I don't want to drive 4 hours to look at a car. So the note sits on my desk for a week. She reminds me a few times. Finally I call up, yep he still has it, he is asking $5,000, but it has 141,000 miles on it, the transmission was rebuilt around 106,000 miles, it has a little ding in the fender, so with all that, what about $4,500? I tell him I will call him back. I call my credit union; they tell me the loan value is around $6,840. So he is offering it for under loan value.

When is God opening doors and when is a deal too good to be true and isn't? But on the other hand, any car is going to be trouble. I put 4 blower motors, 3 alternators, and 3 radiator fan motors, and some transmission work in my Lumina and it cost me $10,000 to buy it. But the Plymouth van has that darn Mitsubishi 3 liter engine that has a bad repair record, and that darn transmission. But the idea won't go away, I need to go look at it. So Dad and I drive out in his old Cadillac. It helps remind me why I need sit up seats. There it is, a 97 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE, dark green (mom will hate the color). George is a tall thin man, with a soft laid-back manner; he is the third generation Erdkamp to have this dealership and he loves it. He hands me the keys and says, "look it over, drive it around". He even offers to let me test-drive it back to Omaha for a few days to see if I like it. That way I could take it to Frank to look it over. He says he has been driving it for over a 1,000 miles and had no problems. But the mileage scares off people. I drive it over the railroad tracks and dad says, "Oh my, that was smoother than the Cadillac." I slam on the brakes and it stops, Right NOW. It is dry pavement, but that is a good sign anyway. I look underneath and the brakes are pretty new. Everything I look at seems to have been taken care of and I find the receipt for the transmission rebuild, it cost the former owner $1,600 in Sterling Colorado. It doesn't have everything I wanted, and I know I am going to have repair bills, but the price is really good.

Now I have to make a decision. I remember how I felt when I bought the Lumina APV, like I was making a mistake, but I couldn't figure out why so I went ahead anyway. I don't feel that way now, I just feel nervous. George is not pressuring me. So I start thinking about needs and wants and how God might lead me through all this noise. The things missing are all wants, not needs but I am still nervous. Suddenly I remember that God did NOT abandon me and tell me, "You made a bad decision with that Lumina, now live with it." God was with me whenever it broke down and there were always people around willing to help. So no matter what decision I make, God would help me make the best of it. So if I get $5,500 from the Archer credit union I should be able to get the two new tires it needs and any minor repairs and pay the registration and taxes all with the loan. Ok, I do it. Then after the deal is done he asks for one of my pastor cards and writes out a $100 check to the church. He says he does that for every pastor he sells a car to. I am overwhelmed, I have never heard of a car dealer doing that. God, was this to reassure me?

I drive back to Omaha and run it into Midas to have the oil changed and balance the two good tires. He points out an oil leak and thinks it might be a head gasket. My heart sinks, that is an engine rebuild and big bucks with this engine. Did I make the wrong decision? I believe George told me all the truth he knew, and he did give me a very good price. Was I not listening to God hard enough? Did I misunderstand? I run it over to Frank Ellison's 66 and he does a complete diagnostic. Nope, it does need gaskets all right, but not the head gasket. Instead he says I need to replace the timing belt and those gaskets all at the same time, but it is only $720. With the cost of $180 for two new tires, plus the battery replacement, new air conditioner compressor, taxes and registration, I should only go over by around $500 the amount I got the loan for and still be below the book value of the car. And it sure rides nice.

Will I have problems? Sure, all cars have problems. Was I listening to God? I think so. God expects me to use my mind, to gather all the information I can, to balance wants and needs, take seriously my power of choice and yet be awake enough to notice when the Holy Spirit opens a door. I called up the family that owned the car before me. The teenage daughter loved it, the wife was very kind and explained that they were both teachers and commuted and took trips in the summer so it was mostly highway miles. The husband was also kind and told me every thing he could remember, and confirming that I needed to get work done on the air conditioner and the timing belt. I thanked him for taking such great car of the van.

I feel good. I inherited a tool that was loved and treated well before me. That reflects the attitude of those who dwell deep in the Spirit of God. All along the way I see how I have been helped and lifted up. I wish it was easier to see during the process, but it sure lowers the fear when you realize God is helping.

You are going to have to make decisions everyday of your life. Some are big, some are small. All of them involve God, living in the center of Holy Spirit's love, and balancing wants and needs. I was helped by you, my family in God, and it made it much easier. Let me be part of that circle and help you back, in honor of the God who loves us.

May God Bless you and guide you in love,
your brother-in-Christ, Rev. Michael Lee Burgess

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