• Me: I want to link to a big announcement that NASA is going to be making today at 1pm EST.
• Cara: (Sends me a link to an article titled “Vatican: It’s OK to believe in aliens.”)
• Me: Interesting
• Cara: That is on the front page of yahoo
• Me: But it isn’t about the announcement happening today is it?
• Cara: What are you talking about
• Me: There is some big announcement by nasa today at 1pm that they found something that they have been looking for for 50 years
• Cara: Sounds boring. like a lost screwdriver.
• Me: hahaha
• Cara: I think that the vatican saying it’s ok to believe in aliens is more relevant to us not knowing what is out there. and that was a big announcment by the pope
• Me: But that wasn’t the article I was looking for.
• Cara: You stick with nasa
• Cara: I will stick with the pope

Tonight we were at dinner and were talking about how Cara’s a little bit scared about the trip that’s coming up, and how people don’t like to talk about that aspect of missions trips. But the fear is very real. It’s not fear that will keep her from going, but it makes it nerve-wracking in the weeks that lead up to such a big trip. (So please pray!)

We were also talking about how each person that’s going on the trip has to prepare one day’s talk to give to the rest of the group. Instead of doing a traditional “lesson,” Cara decided to gather a bunch of quotes from missionaries. The sheet that she compiled has 24 quotes, and she is planning to ask the people on the trip to pick 1) their favorite, 2) their least favorite 3) the one that they disagree with and 4) the one that they most aspire to be like, but aren’t yet.

Here are a few of the quotes…what do you think about the four questions?

“God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him.” – Hudson Taylor

“Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real action is — where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge.” – Robert C. Shannon

” Nothing so clears the vision and lifts up the life, as a decision to move forward in what you know to be entirely the will of the Lord.” – John Patton

“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” -Jim Elliot, missionary martyr who lost his life in the late 1950’s trying ro each the Auca Indians of Ecuador

“If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn’t it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death?” -Dave Davidson

Apparently Cara thinks that he is hilarious, and she wanted a funny book to read.

So she has been telling me all week that she loves this book that she is so happy when she is reading it, and today she sent me an excerpt that I am going to share with you.

It is probably important to note before you read this that Cara is not the best driver. I mean, she is OK, but she kind of gets distracted on the road. She has been known to call me from various locations saying “Where am I?!?” and hoping that I will guide her home. As part of her driving folly, she has been in 4 accidents with bike riders. These were not all her fault, but who gets in 4 accidents with bikes? They were:

1. When she was 16, she was taking a right-hand turn and thought she would beat the bike rider who was next to her around the corner – she didn’t and instead hit him. (He was OK)
2. In college, she was turning onto a one-way street and checked for traffic the one way, but didn’t look the other way, so missed seeing the bike rider coming down the street the wrong way. She saw him after he flew across her windshield. (He was also also OK, just embarrassed because it happened in front of the sorority house)
3. About 10 years ago, she was driving with a friend Lisa Corry when a lady riding a bike was weaving in front of them in the road and fell down. They rushed to assist her and found out that she was “Drunk driving the bike.” (She biked away from the scene)
4. Most recently, she parked the car in front of her apartment and another friend Jodi opened up the car door to get out – right into a biker who was coming down the street (who flipped over, but was OK)

Believe it or not, that was all essential information for enjoying the Jack Handey quote that comes next.

Here it is….I KNOW that Cara liked this more than I did….

I have a confession to make. About a year ago, I was driving along a country road when I hit a hitchhiker. That it was an accident in no way excuses the pain and suffering I caused.

About a month later, I hit another hitchhiker. A hitchhiker can leave a pretty good dent in your car, so I took it into the shop to get both dents removed.  While it was there, I decided to get around by hitchhiking.

Since hitting that last hitchhiker, I have accidentally hit twenty-eight other hitchhikers. I don’t know what’s going on. Everyone hits at least a few hitchhikers every year, whether you realize it or not. (Have you ever been driving and hit a strange bump and wondered, What was that? That was a hitchhiker.) But, to me, twenty-eight seems like way to many.

I decided to get to the bottom of it. Maybe I was just going through a hitchhiker “phase.” Or maybe it was something more serious.

Has drinking been involved? Unfortunately, yes. Not prior to the accidents, but afterwards. If you have ever seen the terrifying face of a hitchhiker pressed againsts your windshield, or heard his angry words as you sped away, then you, too, would need to go home and have a stiff drink.

Some people say, Why don’t you quit driving altogether? It’s funny, but after each hitchhiker you hit, you think, That’s got to be the last one. Then, of course, it isn’t. So what can be done? I believe that, working together, hitchhikers and I can cut down on the number of them I am hitting.

I am trying to do my part. For one thing, when I drive at night, I always make sure my lights are on. Also, I have installed a loud warning siren on my car, which I blast when I’m close to a hitchhiker. I have a lot of other ideas, which I write down on my notepad when I am driving.

“You can hardly call it sacrificing when you are having the time of your life. There was hard work, there was sweat, there was malaria and hepititis, but those are just bumps in the road.”

— Quote by Don Richardson (the first sentence was Cara’s favorite, the second was my favorite).