Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

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A Prayer for Peace

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent
Your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who
Are near; grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you;
Bring the nations into your fold; pour out your spirit upon all flesh; and
Hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen.

The Crucified Christ

Lord Jesus, you stretched out your arms of love upon the hard wood of the
Cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace; so
Clothe us in your spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring
Those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor
Of your name. Amen.

A Confession of Sin

Most merciful god,
We confess that we have sinned against you
In thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
And by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your son jesus christ,
Have mercy on us and forgive us;
That we may delight in your will,
And walk in your ways,
To the glory of your name.
Amen.

Repair

I’ve learned a lot this week. Things feel like they flipped upside down without warning. It’s teaching me the value of my relationships and sound advice. My wife and I discovered that both our vehicles are looking at repairs totaling thousands of dollars. So I’ve been a wee pit preoccupied this week and admittedly let this writing habit slip in the midst of our work and scheming. So below is going to be a rapid fire list of things I’ve learned in the past week, about myself, about my wife, my relationships, and about cars.

• Handle crisis in community. We’ve asked several people for finance advice, car advice, and relationship advice.
• Get and stay on the same page with your partner. Dixie and I started this week with a long meeting about our options that has guided several decisions and conversations following.
• Choose the right attitude. Of course, staring down massive repair bills, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and start to freak out. But we consciously chose in our first meeting to say “we are the kind of people who get after it, work hard, while trusting God and trusting others”.
• Be open to course correction. When my attitude was lacking this week, Dixie was honest enough to say “hey, we chose a different attitude, remember? We don’t get to act like this”.
• Before things need fixing, operate on a budget and set money aside every month to help pay for moments like these.
• Spend less money than you make, as a matter of policy. 
• Build margin in to your budget and be willing to make sacrifices in crisis mode.
• Surround yourself with people you trust.
• Go ask advice. Ask advice of those who are more knowledgeable and experienced. You work with them, go to church with them, shop at the same grocery store, visit the same coffee shops.
• Don’t be afraid of being the idiot in the room. I am certainly not shy about it anymore. If I don’t know what we’re all talking about, I’ll be the one to speak up every time.
• Education does not stop with school attendance.
• There is a fine line between a car worth fixing and a car worth selling “as is”.
• Moisture and/or coolant in your oil will gum it up and ruin your motor’s piston rods.
• Assess the costs of repairs versus what the same sum of money would get you in a replacement vehicle.
• Second opinions. Always get them. Consider even a third opinion.