My little Ford Festiva!!

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

So it's my wife's birthday 1997. I'm stoked because we had a date!

I was working in a brand new job in Mt Vernon, IL and was just feeling blessed!

It was payday so I filled up the car and headed home. I was excited because I got out of there a little early and was really needing some Tammy time.

I was doing drug and alcohol testing for a hospital and everything about that job was new to me. I had been a medic for several years at that point but this paid much better. Tammy and I hadn't been married long and had just bought a house (it was a fixer-upper) so the extra money was good!

So I get home and went inside to change clothes and I hear a noise in the driveway. AWESOME!!! Tammy got off early too!!! So I go ahead and change and notice she doesn't come in. She was probably letting a song on the radio finish...A few minutes later...Hmmm...Long song! I go to the window and pull back the blinds and....WHAT!!!! The noise I heard was the car catching on FIRE!!!!

I wish I was making this up but I'm not. My Ford Tempo was fully aflame! We found out later that the fuel pump was prone to spark and that it had been recalled. I had inherited it from my mother after my dad died.

Mom told me there was a recall but didn't remember what it was on at the time but thought it was for a faulty door lock or something...

Just to sweeten the pot, we had just switched our insurance to liability only like 2-3 weeks earlier to save a few bucks. Well, you live and learn or you don't live long right?

On the upside, If it were any other day, I would have still been in the car but with the kids as well and If I hadn't just filled the tank, it would likely have blown the car and the front of the house up! A half full sealed gas tank full of gas vapor can do a lot of damage! God was definitely looking out for us!

 So I pick up the phone and call 911. The dispatcher says she already knows and that 4-5 of our brand new neighbors had already called YAY!!!…great way to meet the neighbors!

So they show up and put what’s left of my car out. I’m a little panicky at this point because I NEED a car to make the 40 minute drive to work. Tammy works 15 minutes away but in the opposite direction.

I’ve got a pickup truck that quit running about a year before but nobody could ever figure out what was wrong with it. We only knew it had to do with the computer and electrical system and that it would be very expensive to fix.

Tammy made it home and we had a good cry and decided we would go out anyway.

The Tempo was our second car. I drove it to work so we wouldn’t put as many miles on her Camry. We had a pretty decent date even in light of our little disaster.

The next weekend we’re at church. I’m really nervous and edgy and I still haven’t figured out what we’re gonna do when my friend Andy walks up. The conversation goes something like this:

Andy: Hey Danny, you remember that little Ford Festiva of mine?

Me:  Umm…yes…

Andy: You like it?

Me: Umm…ya, it’s ok

Andy: It gets really great gas mileage you know…like 30 miles to a gallon!

Me: (slightly agitated) Ya, good to know Andy

Andy: So, you like it, right??… because God told me to give it to you.

Me: (extremely embarrassed) Andy stop it! Look I’ll figure something out!

He looks puzzled and asked what I meant by that.

The FIRE Andy, the FIRE!!

Andy: what fire?

Me: Come on Andy, quit playing!

~Our little disaster made the newspapers so SURELY everyone knew by now~

Andy: “For the last 2 weeks or so, in my daily prayer time, God kept calling you out by name and telling me to give you my car. So I want to give you my car. Now, what fire?”

Andy knew NOTHING of the fire!!

Well, we both just sat there and thought about what God had done.

I got the little Festiva at about 150,000 miles and drove it to well over 250,000 miles!!

It was extremely reliable and VERY good on gas! It’s EXACTLY what I needed!

God had been in the process of meeting my need at least a week and a half BEFORE I had a need.

This isn't my car but looked a lot like it