A Tale of Two Cities

Well, one is a city, and one is anything but!  However, I am concluding that there are lots of similarities between the two. The place on the left is Salix, PA, the little town where I grew up.  The whole zip code of Salix has less people living there than just a few blocks of the area of Pittsburgh where we now live.  And yes, the place on the left is, the Northside of Pittsburgh.  Now that we've lived in Brighton Heights for a few months, I've observed some striking similarities between life in small town America and life in the city.  

One thing that is similar is the fact that people know each other.  In the suburbs, everybody pretty much leaves everybody alone, and you don't really get to know many neighbors.  But in Salix and in Brighton Heights, you know your neighbors.  You talk to them, every time you see them.  You share life a little...the joys and the struggles.  You talk from your back yards or on one another's porches.  The biggest difference is that you don't have yell as much in the city because the houses are so much closer together than in places like Salix.

Another similarity is the use of streets.  In the city and in the small town, you walk and play in the streets.  The obvious exceptions are the main throughways, but the side streets are play places.  I remember our life on "Center Street" in Salix...it was a place to play.  Same on Brandon Road in Pittsburgh.  People walk their dogs on the streets, play ball in the streets, ride their bikes in the streets, and you simply yell "car" in the rare times when someone is driving through the neighborhood.

A third thing that strikes me as similar is the sense of being somewhat self-contained.  Oh sure, there were the trips to the "big city" (a.k.a. Richland...a suburb of Johnstown) when we were kids.  Things like clothes and big groceries and such couldn't be found in Salix.  But you bought your gas, your main staples, got your mail, went to church, did your banking, and got your car fixed right there.  So it seems to be with city neighborhoods.  Oh sure we venture to Target or Walmart or, God forbid, Ross Park Mall when it becomes a necessity.   But we mostly live in our zip code.  We buy our meet, our groceries, go to church, do our banking, and even get our hardware supplies in walking distance from our front door.

There are differences to be sure, but I'm not sure we have felt this "at home" since we left Salix (or New Paris, another quintessential American small town that we love...).  Life in the suburbs, at least for us, has been the odd man out...

Blogger's Block

You're probably wondering why I've been remiss in updating my blog.  The truth is, I have blogger's block.  It's  a fairly serious condition wherein the blogger can't think of anything meaningful to say.   The only known cure is a several month hiatus to the US Virgin Islands.  See ya.

Final Report Card Installment

For those of you tiring of my "report card" series (not the least of which is me...I get bored easily!), I am including here my final "grades."  

•  Don’t worry about opposition…
•  Ignore criticism…
•  Don’t expect immediate results…

I admit I failed a lot on the first.  I think that is perhaps my greatest struggle and subsequent failure in pastoral ministry.  I was too afraid of people opposing me.  In other words, I caved in to the pressure to be a "people pleaser" far too often.  At times, I should have been more bold in my stance and not worrying about those who might oppose me.  If God is for me, who can be against me?

As for the criticism, I was able to ignore it well at different seasons of my ministry.  I have honestly never been in a position in my life, nor can I imagine one, where one is more apt to receive criticism.  I was criticized on nearly a weekly basis for things I said in messages, in prayers, how I responded or didn't respond to situations, you name it.  To be faithful in leadership, one must learn to ignore criticism.   Never is this more true than as a pastor.

And this last one has always tripped me up, although I hope I'm learning in time.  I love to work with my hands, and one reason is because I like to see what I accomplish.  In ministry, that can be a very tough thing.  Results are seldom immediate and are often difficult to see for years and years, if ever.  

I've enjoyed reflecting with y'all.  My prayer is that I, and you, can learn from Jesus and His way of dealing with others to raise up workers and witnesses for and in the Kingdom...

Some Friends, huh?

So tomorrow night I was supposed to have a couple of "friends" over to hang out...you know, play guitar or whatever.  Well one of them says in some baby, whiney voice that he can't come because he owns some business along the Mon river and he has to stay and defend it against flooding.  What?  That's what insurance is for!  You've been wanting new digs anyhow, right?

So then the other "friend" says he has to reschedule because his daughter is going to be recording a song this weekend.  Say what?  Your daughter is young, bro.  She has her whole life ahead of her to record.  But you, you're getting old.  You have to learn that you're first priority here!  But no...he says in some baby, whiney voice "family first."

So, I guess I'll just be hanging out by myself installing our new dishwasher...

Report Card - Part 3

So the next things on the list are:

• Go slowly…
• Spend hours in solitude…

 I think I've done pretty poorly on these two counts throughout the majority of my pastoral "career."  I tend to have a lot of energy and I find it difficult to go slowly.  I get impatient sometimes and move on to the next thing before I've brought something to fruition.  I think I'm finally learning to do this in my new life as a civilian...

As far as solitude, I've always spend my time in solitude.  The problem has been that I've been too active during those times.  By doing so I have at times negated the truth of "being still and knowing He is God."   I love to spend time alone at times, but I'm learning how to be still at the same time so that God can speak His truth, love, and grace to me.  Then He can best speak it through me!

Stay tuned for the next installment soon!

Another Interruption!!!

I'll get back to the grades soon, but I must take a commercial break for a word from our sponsor.  OK, he isn't our sponsor, but he is one of the coolest things in our neighborhood.  He is Tom Friday from Tom Friday's Meat Market in Brighton Heights.  He is an old fashioned butcher with hanging sides of beef and fresh cut stuff right there in front of your eyes.  He wraps it while you watch and has the neato-ist freezer specials.   We can walk there from our house and he offers free deliver to our door.  Now how cool is that?  Life is good!  Check out his site and drop in to get some good meat when you stop to visit us!

Report Card - Part 2

So in part two, we look at the next few items on the list:

• Teach truths that none of your disciples can grasp at the moment…  
• Avoid crowds…

Now I think I have done a fairly good job at challenging the people God has placed within my care to grow.  I love to teach.  I think one of the reasons why I have seen some fruit from my teaching over the years is because I have tried to teach truth at a level that challenges people to grasp truths that require some wrestling!   Whether they're five or seventy-five, I love to see people "get it!"

The next trait of Jesus in His leadership was avoiding crowds.  I think I am getting a little better at this as time progresses.  I have always been one to throw myself into my work and the people I'm with.  While this is fun and exciting and stuff, it can also drain you emotionally and spiritually.  I have, at times, paid a pretty high price for my unwillingness to avoid the crowds sometimes!  Also, when we spend too much time with crowds, we tend to follow them.  I think one of the characteristics of Jesus' ministry that made Him such a leader was His commitment to avoiding crowds.

I'm looking forward to sharing my next "grades" soon!

We Interrupt this Regularly Scheduled Report Card Blog...

On the first day of March, how could I fail to pay tribute to the famous  Weekend Update skit of the first SNL season when John Belushi rants about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb...at least that's the way it works in the United States...

I tried to find a video clip but could not, so I'm posting the transcript here.  Enjoy!  (BTW, if you know where I can find this video segment online, by all means let me know!)

Chevy Chase:
Last week we made the comment that March comes in like a lion and goes out
like a lamb. Now here to reply is our chief meteorologist, John Belushi,
with a seasonal report.

John Belushi:
Thank you Chevy. Well, another winter is almost over and March true to form
has come in like a lion, and hopefully will go out like a lamb. At least
that's how March works here in the United States. But did you know that March
behaves differently in other countries? In Norway, for example, March comes
in like a polar bear and goes out like a walrus. Or, take the case of Honduras
where March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a salt marsh harvest mouse.
Let's compare this to the Maldive Islands where March comes in like a
wildebeest and goes out like an ant. A tiny, little ant about this big.
[holds thumb and index fingers a small distance apart]
Unlike the Malay Peninsula where March comes in like a worm-eating fernbird
and goes out like a worm-eating fernbird. In fact, their whole year is
like a worm-eating fernbird. Or consider the Republic of South Africa where
March comes in like a lion and goes out like a different lion. Like one has
a mane, and one doesn't have a mane. Or in certain parts of South America
where March swims in like a sea otter, and then it slithers out like a
giant anaconda. There you can buy land real cheap, you know. And there's a
country where March hops in like a kangaroo, and stays a kangaroo for a while,
and then it becomes a slightly smaller kangaroo. Then, then, then for a
couple of days it's sort of a cross between a, a frilled lizard and a common
house cat.
[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him]
Wait wait wait wait. Then it changes back into a smaller kangaroo, and then it
goes out like a, like a wild dingo. Now, now, and it's not Australia! Now,
now, you'd think it would be Australia, but it's not!
[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him]
Now look, pal! I know a country where March comes in like an emu and goes out
like a tapir. And they don't even know what it means! All right? Now listen,
there are nine different countries, where March comes in like a frog, and goes
out like a golden retriever. But that- that's not the weird part! No, no,
the weird part is, is the frog. The frog- The weird part is-
[has seizure and falls off chair]

Report Card - Part 1

So the first two things on my list are:

• Hang out with the disciples…
• Let them see you at your best and your worst…

I did the most "hanging out" in New Paris.  And what a blast.  The culture there lends itself to very relational ministry.  At the other two places I've been, people are more closed off and don't value "hanging out" the way rural folks do.  I think I did my best hanging out ministry there, and enjoyed it immensely!!!  I wished I would have instituted more of this in my ministry at Concord and Cornerstone...

As far as letting people see me at my best and worst, well, I think I've probably done that...even to a fault!  I've always tried to be myself and just let people deal with me as I am.   There have been times when I've felt like I had to "be on my best behavior" or even become somebody I'm really not.  For those times, I am sorry.  I'm also sorry if my "at worst" has actually been damaging to someone or to their faith.  I am sure that's the case, and I'm thankful for God's amazing grace to cover my booty when I do those things!!!

Stay tuned for more grades to follow!

Jesus' Method of Discipleship!

So as I wind down my ministry as a pastor, and as my TPP kids are receiving their report cards, I've been thinking about grading myself on my last 14 years as a pastor.  I'm using these requisites as a baseline.  Mike Yaconelli summarized Jesus' methods in building followers for him like this.  I think is a great way to measure faithfulness...so over the next few blogs, I'll be pondering these things.  I'll also be asking the Lord to show me how I can live this out in my new ministry going forward.  Thanks for hangin' with me!

Jesus’ Method Of Discipleship

• Hang out with the disciples…
• Let them see you at your best and your worst…
• Teach truths that none of your disciples can grasp at the moment…
• Avoid crowds…
• Go slowly…
• Spend hours in solitude…
• Don’t worry about opposition…
• Ignore criticism…
• Don’t expect immediate results…

Why?

So I just read this book called "What the Dog Saw."  And the chapters explore such pressing questions as:

Why are there all kinds of gourmet mustards and stuff but only one ketchup really seems to dominate the world?

Why do some people just seem to attract dog bites and others seem to just woo an animal into submission?

Why do some people "choke" and some panic and what's the difference?

Why do we sometimes try to manage problems that are really just easier to solve?

I must say, it was a really good read.  What are you reading?  And, if you'll pardon the expression, why?

Ne pas oublier!

Now don't forget!  Blog is short for weblog...a sort of web based diary.  Blague is French for joke.  They are pronounced the same, and it is not by mistake that I call my blog a blague.  In other words, it's Brett's joke!

So please try to remember that in nearly every post, I am inserting some "Brettly" humor!  Enjoy!

How to Solve the Icicle Problem!

So with all this snow there is lots and lots of talk about icicles.  To the left is an actual photo of icicles covering our home. 

Now there are at least a few big problems with icicles.  One is how to spell the word.  I think I finally got that right.

The other problem is death.  Apparently, falling icicles are causing large amounts of death.

So, I have the solution.  I noticed that my unheated garage has no icicles.  Neither does the unheated, uninhabited house across the street.  Aha, I said.  Icicles are caused by our universal enemy: heat.   Therefore, I have turned off our furnace.  Problem solved!  Now I suggest you go and do likewise.

#&*#@$%*!

So yesterday was just one of those days I guess.  It started out OK, but for whatever reason, my nerves were a mess.  I was disappointed in myself for not having better control of my kids at TPP.  Then I walked outside to slip and slide to my car, only to clean it off again...only to not be able to get up the street and had to find an alternative route home.  Then I had to shovel our sidewalks and parking places, again.  Then I was going to try to fix the brand new lamp that arrived yesterday but alas, I broke it worse.  And I guess I just snapped.

The stream of filth from my mouth wasn't pretty.  I felt bad for Carla who was privileged to witness this all.  (She is SO gracious!!!)  But I guess I just had to get it all out.

So last night I didn't sleep very well, mostly because I was regretting the way I lost control.  I was reminded of these verses:

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.  (James 1:20-21)

Boy amen to that.  And thank God that we have forgiveness!  I'm giving my mouth over to Him today that I might use it to bring glory, honor, and praise...  I'll let you know how that works out for me just as soon as I deal with those kids, and that hill, and the shoveling, and that stupid-piece-of-crap-no-good-cheap-monkey-metal lamp...

Snow Fatique!

So I stopped in the other day to visit an old friend who has a business here in da burgh.  I hadn't been into his store in a while and was really looking forward to seeing him.   But he was in a bad mood.  In fact, everyone in the place was in a bad mood.  In fact, it seemed like on that day, everyone in Pittsburgh was in a bad mood!

It seems like perhaps we are suffering from snow fatigue!  Too much shoveling.  Too many depressing forecasts.  Too much slipping and falling.  Too little sunshine and warmth!

But alas...Spring is but around the corner.  Cheer up my friends, for these days will soon be passed.  And then we can once again begin the season of "hot enough for ya?!"

Ooh, that smell!

So I'm with a group of people the other day at TPP for our staff meeting lunch.  All the sudden someone starts singing "ooh, that smell!"  At first, I checked to make sure that I wasn't having a Grandpa Probert standby sandwich: Limberger Cheese.  No, just ham and white American. 

Then he starts laughing and says that he and his wife woke up to WDVE on the radio and the Skynard song "Ooh, That Smell."  We had a brief conversation (frequently interrupted by him singing another soundbyte of that glorious song) about why you get a song stuck in your head.

The problem is, we never figured out why.  Any ideas?  And why is it usually a song we really don't care for anyhow?  I'd like to thank you, Wayne, for allowing me to have that ridiculous song "Ooh that smell" stuck in my head for like a week now.  If you'll excuse me, I'm going to step out onto my front porch and sing it at the top of my lungs...maybe that'll help.

Life is a Parade...

So Carla and I were sitting here this morning enjoying a cup of hot beverage and doing some online shopping for our new home when there is a knock at the door.  Turns out, it is yet another new neighbor who comes to welcome us to the neighborhood.   (So far, this is shaping up to be the friendliest neighborhood we've ever lived in...)  Turns out it is a man who I'll call Tom (mostly because his name is Tom!) who is 78 and is the son-in-law of our recently deceased next door neighbor.  He was incredibly friendly, and very interesting!  He was a computer installer/programmer since 1959!  As he talked about how computers have changed in the 20 years that he has been retired, he made the statement that life is like a parade...

...he said that when you watch a parade, you really just focus on what is right in front of you.  You might try to glimpse for a moment at what just passed, or try to see what might be immediately next, but for the most part your focus is on the moment. 

Wow.  The wisdom of a man 30 some years my senior.  Lord, give me the strength today to live in the moment....with everything I have.  But let me appreciate Who you have been in the past and Who you will always be...

Did I Say Something?!

Aight...time for true confessions.  When I'm not setting the kitchen on fire (right now, I'm making one of my favorite African delicacies...wali na maharagi.  Can you tell Carla's working tonight?!), and even when I am, I find myself talking to myself a lot.  Is this bad?  I heard somewhere that it is a sign of genius.  OK, where I heard that?  I said it to myself!  Sometimes, I pretend like I'm talking to Shadrach...somehow, that makes it seem acceptable. Or better yet, I'll call it praying!  I'll talk to myself but convince myself that I'm really not...that I'm talking to God.  That kind of holyfying something can make it all better!!!   So what about you...do you talk to yourself?  Why?  For me, it seems to be therapeutic, and almost a method of more effective thought.  Make sense?  You too?  Who said that?

LOA, ABLC, LMNOP? H-E-L-P!!!!

So I only have a month left as a pastor in the United Methodist Church, and I'll be proudly serving that out with the people called Cornerstone.  But, oh what a quandary this creates!?!!!  For who knew that I needed....a STATUS!!!

Yes, apparently at the end of February my status as an ordained elder in the UMC is in jeopardy because I will not be appointed to serve a local church.  But, alas, there is the ABLC option...appointed beyond the local church.  But is my ministry w/ The Pittsburgh Project a legitimate expression of my ordination to "word, order, and sacrament?"  Probably not...

So I have requested a VLOA...a voluntary leave of absence.  This gives me 5 years (I think...I never read the book...) by Book of Discipline to either lose my ordination or get into a real ministry of word, order, and sacrament.  I guess I'll just take my chances!!!

Fortunately, I believe my real S-T-A-T-U-S is found in my relationship with J-E-S-U-S!  And here I thought I was F-R-E-E!   You can check out John 8:36 if you don't believe me...

So You Say You Want a Revolution?

So I was in the Pittsburgh Project staff meeting on Wednesday.  They meet every Wednesday at noon, share a meal, a few announcements, and then have Bible study and discussion.  Good stuff.  This week the topic was "The Pittsburgh Project (TPP), Revolution or Institution?"

The Scripture basis was 1 Chronicles 12:32, an interesting choice.  Wayne, our leader, was explaining that TPP was looking for people who understood the times and knew what the people of God should be doing.  He further explained that TPP started as a very revolutionary idea nearly 25 years ago...that blacks and whites should live together in peace...that the "haves" and the "have nots" can live side by side and share life, not based on governmental mandates or programs, but on the Word of God and the transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Good stuff indeed.

So the question remains for you and me, wherever we are today, do we want a revolution or an institution?  In our churches, in our lives, in our families, in our neighborhoods?  The real question is, what do you think Jesus wants?  Hint: Look at what He did...

Mzungu!

So today at the Pittsburgh Project, I was teaching my little ones a few Swahili words.  So now they're calling me Bwana Brett...but that's a different story.  So then I'm home this evening and while Carla's working, I'm just jammin some bluegrass on the ole guitar.  While I'm playing, our dog Shadrach decides to lie down.  Well he starts walking around in circles like 437 times before he decides that he found the right spot.   What a goof...and yet how are we like that?!?!  In fact, in the area of Africa that I lived as a Peace Corps volunteer, the word for white person is "mzungu."  OK, you ready for the humbling reality of what that word literally means? 

It means: person who keeps going around in circles!!!

So as I'm closing out my last month of preaching at Cornerstone and beginning my new ministry at the Pittsburgh Project.  And as we're getting all settled into our new house, and as life is crazy, I'm trying to remember the truth of Psalm 46:10..."be still and know that I am God..."  In other words, I'm trying to not be such a mzungu!!!

Fear Not

In the midst of the move an' 'at, fear not, for lo, I am blogging, even unto the end of the age.  I just don't have time right now...

But just as you have seen my blog go, so you shall see it return...

To "multi" or "mono," this is the question...

So the other day I'm having breakfast with a couple of my best friends.  While we're eating and talking, I'm texting and taking calls and reading my emails and checking facebook and tweeting and thinking of my next joke and composing my next Sunday message and worrying and praying and interrupting and....well, you get the picture.  Why am I doing this?  Because this is what culture tells me is healthy.  The more you can do at once, the better (Extra Blague de Brett Bonus!!!!  Fill in the blank!!!) ____________  you are. This, my friends, is the art of multitasking...

So one of my friends says, are you sitting down?, he deleted his facebook account.  WHAT?  Are you crazy?  You shall be shunned!!!  What about that Bible verse, it's in there somewhere, I think, that says woe unto the facebookless, or sum'n like that?  How you could fall so far?  How will you live? 

After I work through my shock, he simply looks at me and says that he thinks his calling in this new year is to "monotask."  To focus on one person or thing at a time...and only one thing at a time...and give it his whole attention.  What a concept, but as an old professor of mine used to say, "I'm afraid he might be right...."

The Winter Storm of the Decade!!!

So here we are...smack dab in the middle of the biggest winter storm we've seen all decade.  That's right, you heard me, the whole decade (which began seven days ago...). 

To the left I've included a picture of what our neighborhood looks like right now.  (Note: there really isn't anything there but white.  Get it, Mom?)  Please don't mistake this picture for ghosts eating marshmallows in a styrofoam room.

So I have some thoughts on surviving this incredible storm which will probably doom us all:

1.  Drive really fast.  That way you'll get past the place where you might wreck quickly and avoid the wreck.

2.  Don't stop at stop signs.  That way you won't slide or spin out.

3.  Stock up on strawberry Pop-tarts.

4.  Call everybody you know every 5 minutes and ask them how the roads are.

5.  Cancel any activities you may be in charge of at least 48 hours before the first flake drops.

6.  Call the coordinator of any activities you are not in charge of at least every 15 minutes to see if they canceled the activity yet.  (Don't forget to ask them how the roads are.)

7.  Frequently update your facebook and twitter about the snow and your feelings about it. 

Turn to What, or Who!?

Big news in Christian circles this week: Brit Hume tells Tiger Woods to turn to the Christian faith to straighten out his life.  Now on the surface, that seems like great advice, and to be honest, I think Brit's intentions were fantastic.

My issue however is that Christianity never straightened anyone's life around.  Christianity is just another religion, and one that is fallen, at best.  If anything, Christianity can just mess up a persons life.

Now before you think I've fallen further off my rocker, let me explain.  What Tiger Woods needs, what I need, what you need, what Brit Hume needs...is Jesus Christ.  Not Christianity.  Not religion.  Not a set of moral standards and behavioral modification techniques that don't really work.  But Jesus Christ.  The Word makes it pretty clear...HE came to seek and save the lost, not His followers, or at worst, the institution they've created...

What's "New?"

So as I sit here at the dawn of a new year, I wonder what's new.  As I continue my journey to know what God has in store for me next, I wonder what's new.  I know that 2010 will be a year of significant changes, and many new things, but I wonder what's new.  If only we could see down the road to know where we'll be walking, but then that is not God's mysterious way!

One thing I wonder is why so many people are called to start new churches, but so few are called to start new ministries.  Many have asked me "are you going to start your own church?"  The answer on about 14 different levels is NO.  Part of my struggle with that is in the question itself..."own church."

Part of it is that so many seem to be starting churches in affluent areas (like Cranberry Township) and yet churches in places like Bellevue are going under.  I believe part of the reason for that is "church" is still popular with the relatively wealthy, but ministry is what is needed to the masses (and I would argue, by the Lord Himself).  Because churches tend to focus on themselves (despite good attempts and mission statements to the contrary), ministry sometimes doesn't happen as well through the church.  Plus churches tend to generate capital, and especially if you start one in an affluent area.  But ministry takes resources, financial and otherwise, in order to "succeed."  In other words, starting ministries is so much harder than starting churches...but did Jesus say this would be easy?

So as I wonder what's new, I know for me it is NOT starting a new church.  But one thing I do ponder is whether God is calling me to start a new ministry somewhere in the Pittsburgh area.  What's new?  Who knows...but you can join me in praying about it...

Happy New Year!

May God's peace and blessings be manifest through your life in the coming year! Here are some more pix of our new house. Our address as of January 15th will be:

Brett and Carla Probert
3970 Brandon Road
Pittsburgh PA 15212

I will still be serving Cornerstone but no longer living in the parsonage. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Just a few quick thoughts before I take a blog-break for Christmas:

1.  Merry Christmas everyone.  May you know that "God became flesh and dwells among us!"

2.  We can't wait to move into our new home...closing date is January 15 and moving date is January 18.  This is a picture of the front of it.

3.  I hope everyone enjoys the gifts we bought for them this year.  We cheerfully give, because He has given us so much...

4.  Thank you all for your prayers for Carla's dad.  We continue to commit him and his health into the Lord's hands...it's always in His hands anyhow, it's just that now we seem to know it a little more...

Merry Christmas, and may you be blessed and be a blessing in 2010.

And the Lord sayeth "Behold! I watcheth over the clunker!"

So I'm driving along the other day in my "quart of oil every 1,000 mile/gallon of antifreeze every 2,000 mile/quart of tranny fluid every 3,000 mile" ten year old Saturn when alas, there is a buck.  I mean alas too 'cause there was like no time whatsoever to do anything about him.  He was big and beautiful and running about 275 miles/hour.  I hit the brakes just about the same time I hit him!  BAM!

So I'm thinking...great...there goes my beautiful clunker of a car.  Prolly took out the radiator and all those doo-hickey's under the hood.  I pulled over into a parking lot, got out of the car, and to what did my wondering eyes appear?  But a couple of strands of deer hair on the hood.  That's it.  No dents (OK, that's a lie...no NEW dents!), no broken anything (OK, again...no NEW broken stuff), no steam from under the hood (or at least more steam than it usually puts out...keeps the wrinkles in the hood under control...).  And I'm like, literally, thank you Lord!

At this time when I'm stepping out on faith, looking down a new uncharted road, and buying a house, I don't need to Bambi-ize my poor car.  Thank you Lord for watching over the clunkers...both the cars, and the people!