Cool Story Bro: The Insane Car Alternator Part 2

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The car

Catch the foxes for us- the little foxes that ruin the vineyards- for our vineyards are in bloom. Song of Solomon 2:15

Previously on "Cool Story Bro" click here

It was a tiny plastic piece that connected my alternator to the rest of the Toyota's electrical system. Was it really one little piece causing all this trouble? At first I shrugged off Mr. Alberti's highly experienced opinion. But the more I thought about it the more I trusted his evaluation of the problem.

So, I borrowed Mr. Alberti's truck and me and the fam headed out to LKQ self service junk yard. I combed the imports section by looking inside every Toyota Corolla regardless of year. After much prayer and a lot of searching through hundreds of cars I came across the tiny piece that I needed. Strangely it was in a model several years newer than mine.

By this time my entire day off was used up. I had wasted it in the parking lot of an Advanced Auto. I was not happy about that, but what was I supposed to do? I didn't have a working vehicle.

Cool Story Bro: The Insane Car Alternator

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Pop the Clutch!!!

Catch the foxes for us- the little foxes that ruin the vineyards- for our vineyards are in bloom. Song of Solomon 2:15

In the middle of last week my car's battery warning light started sporadically blinking. Concern set in because we sold our other much newer car a week earlier. A quick look into my '94 Toyota Corolla owners manual told me the alternator was going bad. This wasn't a terrible repair. It was something I could do myself, and it wouldn't drain our emergency fund too much.

Everything seemed to be running fine for a couple of days. But being the responsible man I thought I'd pick up a replacement alternator from Advanced Auto before I actually needed it. I'd change it when I got the time. The time came sooner than I had imagined. When I tried to leave Advanced Auto my car wouldn't crank. The battery was dead and the alternator was finished.

Financial Alcatraz

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Jorge Garcia in Alcatraz

I was a huge LOST fan. I've seen every episode and dissected them all. One of my favorite characters from LOST was Hurley played by Jorge Garcia. Alcatraz has a mysterious island, Jorge, and a science fiction story... I'm all over that. The first episodes were really interesting and I definitely didn't feel like I was waisting my time. I'm excited to tune in next week.

If you're anything like me sometimes your financial situation can feel like Alcatraz. It seems like there is no way out. My wife and I try our hardest to stretch every penny. We have some debt. The huge majority, I'd say 95%, is student loan debt. There are times when I look at the bills when they come in and I feel like I'm never going to pay those things off. They feel likes chains.

Proverbs 22:7 tells us, The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender. The reason it feels like prison is because it is. Debt means we're not in control of our destiny. When we have debt our master becomes who we borrowed from. Many people are stuck in jobs they don't want because they have debt they are imprisoned by. Marriages are being destroyed because debt controls their marriage, not God. It was pretty easy getting where we are. The real trick is figuring out how to escape the prison of debt.

My wife and I are in the beginning stages of trying to escape the Alcatraz of debt. It's going to be tough, but over the years we are going to escape. Our new series Man Vs. Money is going to be life changing. If you feel like you're in a financial prison I really want to encourage you to join us on Saturday Night at 8PM or Sunday at 10:30AM. We're also doing a small group study called I Was Broke and Now I'm Not. If I could tell you that in 6 weeks you could learn the escape route to your financial Alcatraz, would you do it?