Cars

I was talking to a friend of mine (South African) about buying a car for next year. I’m really not excited about the prospect of buying a car in this country. Besides the fact that I don’t know what I’m going to get for my money (quality-wise), cars here are stinkin’ expensive. On average, a car that would cost $15,000 in the States costs around $30,000 here. I’m looking at used cars because I can’t see myself spending the equivalent of $20,000 on a new bottom-of-the-line Honda, no matter how nice it is.

Our conversation covered such things as base prices, title and license, insurance options and maintenance/upkeep. The more I think about it, the less I want to make a decision this large with this kind of financial impact. I’m not good at deciding … not even about what light bulbs should go in particular rooms in our building. I’d much rather use the money to make the building the kids work and play in safer. I guess that I find it as hard to spend the money on myself as others do, even though the need hangs over my head every day and has been something I’ve regretted not planning for since arriving here.

Financially, can I handle it? Kind of. I have some money that can go towards this, but I will probably need more to buy something reliable that requires little maintenance. So, I’ll have to put the need out there and see if God moves on people’s hearts to give … and I’m really not looking forward to that.

At the same time, I know that something has to give because this has been the largest barrier to my building relationships in this country. It’s also limited me in some ministry opportunities I’ve wanted to take advantage of. So, I’m looking at having to suck it up, even if it means making a huge mistake and having to eat a huge loss. My biggest desire in the midst of this is to be a wise steward of the money God places in my hands.