Exhibit #1: After two weeks of volunteering on a construction project for a Christian conference center and a week long Christian conference in Southern California, I totaled my car while driving back up to the bay. The whole experience has been really interesting, and I picked my brain for weeks trying to figure out how/why it happened.
Here's the reenactment of the accident: I was right at the 580-680 interchange, in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I figured it was a good time to drink some water because nothing was really happening on the road, so I picked up a water bottle and unscrewed the cap. Somehow, it slipped out of my hand completely open, and fell on my side of the car drenching the floor of the driver's side. I looked down to assess the damage/retrieve the bottle (didn't want it to stick under the pedals), and when I looked back up, all the cars were stopped. I braked hard (I was only going like 10-15 miles an hour, so I wasn't in danger of getting hurt), but it was too late. I rear ended a silver pickup truck, and we pulled over to the side to assess the REAL damage. It didn't even look like anything happened to the truck, but this is what happened to my car:
Basically, the truck was tall and had a narrow metal bar attached to the bumper. It hit my hood (not the bumper) in the perfectly wrong spot, pushing the engine in a few inches and pulling the rest of the front up. It was a terrible, terrible example of the effects impulse, stress concentrations, and conservation of momentum can have. Sometimes it sucks being an engineer because you can describe these things in technical terms.
The funny thing is that I didn't even get that adrenaline rush when it happened (I wasn't going that fast), and I just started to call on the Lord softly and pray. Apparently, a cop was a few cars behind us, saw it happened, and took care of the exchanging of info for us. He told me not to worry because I have insurance, and my automatic response surprised me: "Yeah, and it's a good opportunity to experience the Lord's supply, too." The cop gave me a funny look (I think he was expecting me to have a nervous breakdown or something), gave me directions back to the freeway, and then took off.
Miraculously, I was able to drive my car home going 50 in the slow lane - the engine was making funny sounds - and during the 30 minute trip, a car in front of me was driving just as slowly and had the license plate "GRACE." That was a sign right there. It was like the Lord was telling me that I can experience His grace, no matter what happens to me. Either that, or some 60 year old Asian lady named Grace got a car for her birthday. I like the first explanation better.
This is the aftermath: AAA came to check out the car, deemed it a total loss, and wrote me a check for $13,481. We still owed $2400 on the car, so I came out with $11,081 (the blue book price of the car is $9000). I spent the last three weeks researching cars, working out insurance issues, and buying a car (which was a really enlightening, but time-consuming experience). These are the major details:
1) No one was injured, and the other vehicle didn't report damage.
2) I used the check from AAA as the down payment on a 2010 Corolla LE. My sister came with me to check out dealerships (thanks Channon!!!), and we got it for $16,800 out the door, including tax and license (Invoice was $16300). We got a better deal on it than on the 2009s that we looked at, and it was an even better deal than my 2005 Corolla S was. It was pretty funny because after we got the offer my sister went outside to call other Toyota dealers in the bay area (we had their phone numbers), and they said that they couldn't beat it and to take the offer. Go Fremont Toyota. The saleslady, Becca, was pretty cool too.
It's actually a really good time to buy a car. Toyota has $1000 rebates for recent college graduates, APRs are really low, and a new law allows you to deduct the sales tax of a new car purchased after February 2009. If you have an old car that gets less than 21 MPG, you can get a $3500-$4500 rebate through the Cash for Clunkers program, too.
A lot of consideration went into the car I chose. I wanted something safe, reliable, with good fuel economy, that I could pay off in three years (in case I decide to go to Europe), and that would be big enough in case I need to transport people/items. I almost got a Yaris because I thought they would be cheaper, but it was only about a $1000 difference in final price.
3) AAA opened up a new policy for me (I was under my parent's plan before), and because I have good grades/safety features on the new car the premium on my new plan is pretty much unchanged from what it was on my parent's plan. It essentially didn't affect my parents or my car insurance plan financially. I do have one point on my record because of the accident, though. It'll be taken off in three years.
4) Most importantly, the experience was not stressful at all. I really have been experiencing the Lord's grace and peace.
Basically, I got a new car for under $7,000, I'm building credit (I took over the car payments), and no one was hurt. Someone shared 1 Peter 1:7 with me, which says "So that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold, which perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." That's the only way I can explain this experience.
Exhibit #2: This one isn't as big. The day after I totaled my car, and during my first week back to working full time, I got the flu. I went to work with a fever that whole week, while dealing with new tasks and sorting through the car insurance paperwork. It was like rubbing salt in a cut, but I was still happier that week than I was before I went to Europe.
There are at least two more big things that happened/are happening, but I don't feel like sharing them on my blog because they're about my family members.
I don't think this trip had such a big effect on me merely because I've never traveled far - it's something a lot deeper than that. I know that I will travel a lot more in the future, but this experience will always be special because I've never experienced God being this real to me. Interestingly, the biggest thing I noticed is that I don't really like to drink anymore. I did drink a little twice with my friends after I got back, but nothing major. I haven't told anyone this, but I used to drink by myself at night - not at "alcoholic" levels, but enough to get me to sleep and enough for it not to be normal. Now, all I need is to go to the gym and I can sleep ok. That's a pretty big blessing.
This pretty much brings me back to today. I finally caught up to life (or it caught up with me), and now you know why I've been MIA since I've been back to the bay. And why I have a new ride.
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