Sunday, January 17, 2010

make a difference: buy a car

1996 Mercury wagon

My “new” 1995 Mercury Sable

Last week I received an email from SGI (Sask Gov Insurance) that someone would be coming to pick up my Crown Victoria “in a few days.” This caused quite a rush, so I got on Kijiji to search for something in my price range.

For some reason, I wanted a station wagon, so specified “wagon” in the search box. That led me to this car. I like the colour (that’s important to a girl), the body looked to be in reasonable shape for a ‘95, and the price was oh-so-right. The most intriguing thing was this line at the bottom of the ad: “Worth Unlimited is a NON-PROFIT ministry of Youth For Christ Calgary.”

So I called Doug. Turns out he was at Caronport when I was. In fact, he probably worked on some of my vehicles in the garage there! We had the nicest talk on the phone and I felt confident about his assessment of this vehicle as “a nice little car.” Kevin, who is extremely smart about cars, agreed that this would be a good car for me, so we didn’t look at anything else. This afternoon we test drove it, liked it, and bought it. I’ll register it and pick it up on Monday or Tuesday.

Doug gave us a tour of the shop and the Youth For Christ offices. He loves his work, both with cars and with the youth who help in the shop. I love that this car was donated to YFC and that young people got some job skills training and mentoring in the process of fixing it up. I love that that any profit from its sale goes back into this practical and important ministry. And I love that Doug is so passionate about this work.

Driving away, Kevin and I discussed the definition of success. Dr. Charles Stanley would say success is being in the centre of God’s will for your life. Not climbing a ladder of achievement or status, but being fully present in the place where God has put you. By that definition, Doug is undoubtedly a success.

If you’re in Calgary and need some basic maintenance on your car, are looking for another vehicle, or would like to donate one, call Worth Unlimited and talk to Doug.

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