You got the color right

Yes, we are done truck shopping for a while. Aman and I had been truck shopping last week.  We looked at everything from Rangers to Hummers but nothing really jumped out and said to me  "I can do things for the farm that are not being done".  Until Saturday.  Saturday I went to Shannon's auction.    I was kind of interested in his truck.

2006 GMC Sierra 2500HD w/ SLT pkg, Black 4-dr, 4WD, Duramax/Allison, tires 95%, short bed, leather int., 5th  wheel hitch, alum wheels,  90,xxx miles, Bose stereo, capt. chairs, console, rear bench seat, all power ... a really nice truck.  I just checked, retail Blue Book on it is $32,000.

I'd said all along the only way I'd buy a black truck was if it was a REALLY good deal.   I bid it to $19,000  It went for just a little more than that.  A REALLY good deal.  Just one I wasn't comfortable with.

There was also some consignment equipment.  2002 Ford F-550, Corn Pro gooseneck trailer, Cat D-4 dozer.  I'd looked at them ... not too seriously but they were setting there and I looked them over.  And the more I looked at the truck and trailer the more I thought "This could do some things for us we can't do right now."  I got an idea in my head of my top dollar amount ... and got both of them.

The fact it is red didn't hurt.

Truck shopping

Quick update: I'm not shopping any more.  The story and photos Monday.  I'll say it up front, I hate truck shopping.  I know, I know, Sue and the kids are going "WHAT? We have spent YEARS looking at trucks!" Yes, but looking and shopping are different.  I have been contemplating if it is time to replace little red.  It has 180,000 miles on it and is probably going to start costing some money before too long for repairs.  So Thursday Aman and I had to go to Terre Haute for some things so we looked at trucks in a more serious manner. Looking the trucks over, talking to salesmen, getting prices, giving my phone number ... actual shopping.

Part of the problem is I don't know for sure what I want.  I have had everything from a basic 2 wheel drive short bed Ranger to a 6X6 with a service bed dually and everything in between.  I can argue the benefits of all of them.  I'm sure this is equally frustrating for the salesmen.  In fact, my only criteria is if it is black it is going to have to be one heck of a deal.

Our first stop was in Marshall.  LT as a 4 door 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive diesel.

Great truck for hauling people and pulling a camper. However fuel mileage, even as a diesel, is probably under 15 MPG.

We stopped at Honda, they had one truck and it was black.

The GMC dealer had several choices, but none tripped my trigger .. well, except for the diesel with the new service bed.  Can you say $40,000+?  We went across the street.

Dorsett's have a truck I am attracted to.  A used Nissan Titan extended cab

20,000 miles, very recent trade in.  We got to see it before it was detailed. A little more plain that some others but nice.  They also had a Hummer H3

We took it for a test drive.  I was impressed.  "Course, I should be.  This one had ALL the bells and whistles included a few thousand dollars worth of wheels and tires.  Seriously.  I could work out of it.  And the color is right. If it only had a tow package.

Down the street Ford has a 2006 Hummer WITH a tow package.  Pretty Blue. It was tempting.

We looked at Chevy, nothing there really interesting. We did look at new basic trucks.  They call them work trucks.  I think it might be better to buy a basic work truck new than most of the used ones we saw.

Then came back to the Nissan dealer.  We drove a used Ford, looked at a new Frontier. But no decision was made.  The salesman did call me today to see if he could help me.

Don't tell anyone, but I'm seriously considering going back to look at the blue Hummer again.  The idea intrigues me. It would pull the camper. It's 4WD, It would carry me, others, and tools.  Nobody would mistake me for someone else driving another one of those dirt brown Chevies.  To be honest, the Hummer is the only thing we have looked at that jumps out at me and says "This could be better than what you have."  However I haven't looked into where it would have to go for service.  It could be like a VW.  Great car if you were 75 miles closer to a dealer.

But who knows.  I might go to Shannon's sale tomorrow and buy the old Dodge.

I may have a new favorite singing group

I like Big Daddy Weave, I really do.  But this song by High Valley really makes the keyboard hard to see


And this one isn't bad



And then there is this one



Here is a mix

Big Daddy Weave ... in Albion ?

Aman and I were coming through Albion today when I saw a sign ... just one ... that really caught my eye.

BIG DADDY WEAVE IS COMING TO ALBION !

Big Daddy Weave is hitting the road in March for the “Love Come to Life” tour, featuring special guests American Idol Season Six finalist Chris Sligh and breakout new artist Luminate. The tour begins on March 25th in Palos Heights, IL, and wraps up May 8th in Ahoskie, NC. 

OK, that may not excite everyone.  I've been a fan of their since I first heard them.  They are performing in Albion March 27 at 7 PM.  I may have to skip church that evening.

For a sample crank your speakers up and go to 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEUsyvejlOY

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70xy8sPEE4

No pretty pictures this time.  Sometime my mind wanderings get into deep theology.  Here is part of a discussion I am involved in ... from a farm forum no less.  On one forum I frequent a question was raised about church.  Here are portions of the original post:

"Our kids started church here when they were very young and it seems like them and some of the other long time members kids are kind of being accused of being territorial and not very welcoming to new possible members. Our kids have been taught to hold themselves to a high standard. If you think that someone might be trouble then steer clear, they are overall well-behaved and willing to help with about anything you ask, work hard and you really would be hard pressed to find a better bunch of kids. Ministers and youth leaders I think are led to try to bring in any and everyone who needs help as they should, but the rub is that my kids know these kids from school and the community and have a hard time believing that they are sincere after seeing them in real life in other places.  After I have told my kids all of their lives to be selective about who you are around should I just say nevermind? The real mission of our church is to bring the Word of GOD to as many people as we can but I'm pretty sure that the more needy folks you bring in the less that the long time members will want to participate."

We could have a long discussion on just that last sentence.   But let's blend that in with a couple things my online friend Kay said:


"some people are very territorial and closed-minded and -hearted when it comes to accepting people into their church.  ... Being "selective"' in your personal life - who you associate with in school and who you bring into your home - is not necessarily the same as who you want to welcome into your church. Isn't church supposed to be where people go to remake their lives, to be forgiven, to be welcomed into loving arms?  Jesus was not too selective, was he?   It is two-faced to teach one thing, and practice another.  It is the classic example of hypocrisy. "

So many thoughts rattling around in my head.  I'm probably not going to do a good job expressing any of them. I remember reading someplace that nobody is perfect.  I think the implications are some are even farther away than others.    I don't have a good answer about how to handle others with a less than desireable history.  I guess it depends on how sincere you feel they are.  If the kids think they are sincere how they ought to relate to them is a lot different than if they think they are just cming to church meet the opposite sex or if they are just coming for the free cookies and milk.

What is the real mission of the church?  Is it to reach out and bring others in? Is it to do good? I have a viewpoint that many will have trouble with.  The real mission of the church is to worship God.  Nothing more, nothing less. But here is where it gets interesting.  When we look through the New Testament  we see Jesus say "Feed my sheep".  We see phrases like fruits of the Spirit. We see talk about faith and works.  We read in James that if we have faith but it doesn't show up in how we act our faith is worthless.

If the church is fulfilling it's real mission (worshipping God) it is going to show up as actions. Not necessarily by the church as an organized body but the church as the people involved in it.  At the end of James chapter 2 we read:

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

That is a very, very theologically deep sentence. Where I'm going with all this is if the church is really fulfilling its mission to worship God it cannot help but do the things we see as reaching out to the ... I hesitate to say "lost" but it most quickly gets the point across ... and helping develop them as followers of the faith.

In the Book of Revelation we see various churches mentioned.  It is commonly accepted these were real churches but also they were examples for us to study and take note of.  One of the things they tell us is a church can mess up.  The church is made up of imperfect people, people who do things wrong and mess up.

I was at a conference a few years ago with a speaker from a large fundamentalist denomnation. He said the average church lasts 100 years.  His denomination, rather than try and fix a dying church, would just start up a new one nearby.   I understand from a human standpoint that is the quickest and easiest solution, but I'm a farmer who was raised to never throw away anything that had potential of good in it.  I think the same of people and churches.

The difficulty comes when we try and reform the folk who have become so set in their ways they don't realize their attempts at doing right are becoming a hindrance to others.  I see that happening in my church.  The new preacher is advocating some actions, some changes in how the church does things.  The problem I'm not sure he realizes yet is some long time, raised in this church members see it as saying Dad and Uncle and Friend were wrong because the didn't "do church" that way.  I think that is why the denomination I mentioned just starts over.  It avoids the hinderance of history.

I'm wondering away from where we started.  Let's look at one more thing.   "Being "selective"' in your personal life - who you associate with in school and who you bring into your home - is not necessarily the same as who you want to welcome into your church. Isn't church supposed to be where people go to remake their lives, to be forgiven, to be welcomed into loving arms?"  How do you (and your kids)  do both? We are warned in 1st Corinthians 15:33 not to be tricked by false words,  that evil company does damage to good behaviour.  As I said earlier, I don't have a good answer.  If they are sincere then we have an obligation to help them grow and mature.

I've taken a lot of space and still haven't gotten to some of the issues or answers.   I'm not sure there are good answers.

Sue and I finally did it ...

Yes, Sue and I finally did it .. we joined an organization together.

We have talked about it for a long time.  To be honest, our only limitation has been adding another item to our schedule.  But sometimes it boils down to "If you aren't part of the solution you are part of the problem."

The problem is we are among the younger members of the local organization ... possibly of the national organization.  I keep hearing how the younger generation is more "socially conscious".  Perhaps, but it seems to me the younger generation is also less community involved.

I told someone once part of the community's problem is the Deans and Dicks are dying and not being replaced.  Not "The Dean" as a position, but Dean as in Dean Strohm and Dean Monk and even Dean Clatfelter (even  as eccentric as he was). Dick as in Richard Strohm, Richard Chapman, Richard Cline ... and my Dad.

Nobody is stepping up to take their place.  Our community is suffering because of it.

So I can be part of the problem or part of the solution.

What about you?