Trip Accident: Thank God we're alive! (by Charlie)

During our trip to Michigan, I was taking my driving shift during the night, and everything was going normally. I was tired, I was snacking on trail mix, and I was listening to a sermon. All of a sudden, I heard a loud SNAP, followed by a grinding noise. I looked back in the mirror to see sparks flying everywhere. Immediately, I slowed down and pulled over. I realized what had happened when I saw a lone wheel zip past me and roll on down the highway.

The car had scraped to a stop just on the shoulder of the road. After informing my mother, I got out and took a look at the damage. It was still dark, so I couldn’t see much, but what I could see surprised me. The right-side trailer wheel was completely gone, and the axle it had rested on was glowing red hot and bent out of shape. The bare frame was resting on the ground; this thing was not going anywhere. I then tried in vain to tow it further off the highway, confirming my suspicion.

So, we had to get the trailer off the van, and drive to get help. It was way too heavy to lift, and we ended up having to use the car jack to pry it off the trailer hitch.

We then got the phone number of a mechanic, who drove to the site and helped us decide what to do. He got a tow truck to come and pick it up. He also went and retrieved the wheel for us, which had rolled another 150 yards down the road. He had to cross two lanes of 70mph highway, risking his life to grab our lost wheel. He was very gracious to us. He could have charged us the $75 service charge for taking our call, but he only took the $18 dollars we had in cash because we didn’t need him.

Then we took it to a place that sold trailers, and got them to fix it. They told us that a lack of wheel grease had caused the accident. Because there wasn’t enough grease in the wheel, it began to heat up, thus melting the rest of the grease away. Then it heated up so much that the axle bent out of shape and allowed the wheel to fall off.

We were going to need a new axle on the trailer, and they just happened to have the right one for the replacement. They heard our story about being on our way to Michigan, so they started on it right away. It only took about an hour, and we were back on the road.

We stopped a little while later to fix the lights on the trailer, (which had not been working) but eventually got those fixed as well.

All in all, I am thankful that we even lived through this accident, and that we were able to still make it to Michigan. I also pray that we will have no similar setbacks on the way down from Michigan.

Scripture Memory - by Will

“I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11
That’s a pretty good reason to memorize scripture! Another good reason is that we never know when persecution might arise, so it is nice to have God’s word in your heart, where people can never take it away.
You know that memorizing scripture is good, but it’s just too hard! Here are some tips that I have learned while memorizing the Psalms:
1. Pray for God to give you a desire to memorize and that he will also help you too. God will give you the desire and the power to do this.

2. Get to know what is in the passage that you are memorizing. If you are just memorizing a bunch of sounds and words, you might tend to forget the passage. Besides, what’s the point of memorizing scripture if you don’t know what it is saying? I find that if you learn what the passage is saying, it will be easier to remember.

3. Start by reading the verse/s to yourself. I like to read out loud to myself. I think it trains your mind what to say when you recite it. So what if your little sister thinks you’re silly! You’re doing this for God.

4. Don’t try to memorize too much at once. I like to focus my time on memorizing a few verses really well, and then expand off of those verses, (if you are memorizing a passage of scripture instead of just one verse.)

5. Set goals for what you are going to memorize. Sometimes I would start slacking off while I was memorizing. So I made a new year’s resolution to memorize a certain number of Psalms before next year.
6. Use keywords and keyletters to help you. There are certain times when you can use certain words or letters to help you memorize. I like to associate a letter to a Psalm or chapter to help me remember what to say. Example: I will memorize which Psalms begin with “O Lord” and then remember what follows that in the rest of the first verse.
There are also tricks you can use to remember what to say: Sometimes I remember the next verse by using a keyword/keyletter from the first verse:
“that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation. The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the works of their own hands. - Psalm 9:14-16
Notice that each verse, and sometimes the segment in the verse, starts with TH. If you can remember things like this, it can make it easier to memorize passages. Another example:
“For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me O Lord . . .” – Psalm 9:12-13
I remember that, in the alphabet, B comes after A and the previous verse ends with an A-word, so the next verse will start with a B-word. Another example:
“. . .their drink offerings of blood will not pour out or take their names upon my lips. The Lord is my chose portion and my cup. . .” – Psalm 16:4-5
The first verse ends with an L-word, so I memorize that the same letter comes next in “The Lord.”

I hope these things were helpful!
I have decided to post a song that I like on all of my posts. It doesn’t necessarily relate to the subject. This is a song from the former band called the O.C. Supertones. Enjoy!

1999 and the stakes is high
Our options have come down to either we do or we die
We need You now more than ever, Pull out all of the strife in the church, get us together
Is time running out? I can't say I do know. We have one day less than we did yesterday.
So it's up to us to unite, You wanna fight the power? You need the power to fight.
And can we sing with one voice, if we all love the same God? Can we agree to disagree?
And so we cry with one voice to the only God in all the universe- who holds us in His hands.
No more time for us to bicker and complain,
If we're called by the same name, there's nowhere for us to lay the blame,
except for ourselves. And if we died to our old selves we've come alive as God's flesh,
that makes us family.
Deeper than death, but we don't act so tight when there's a back to bite.
Are we less like a family, and more like a fistfight?
Are we there, but not quite are hypocrites children of light?