What wonders!

So the new vehicle's battery completely discharged last Friday while at work.

For the second time at the clinic within about a month it would not start, and just like the last time it was Friday and you were  tired and hungry.

This happened first, in the morning on that very penitential Friday last week, during Lent 2025: 

The Compassionate Intercession of Saint Joseph at Saint Joseph's

Then at the lunch break at one o'clock the vehicle would not start.  

Phone calls made to a repair center and to the service department at the dealership during lunch off-site with a colleague led around and around and around in a circle.

Certainly this cannot be that complicated.

After returning to the clinic, plans were made to enlist a tow truck to just take the vehicle that afternoon to the dealer after calls to the local repair place who looked at the vehicle the last time and to the service department at the dealership that sold the car continued to lead around and around in a circle.

Three conversations with three different people at the vehicle repair place and three conversations with three different people answering the phone at the service department at Ford; how can this possibly be that complicated? 

And, the vehicle is new. 

Summoning the tow truck could not even be accomplished using your phone or the clinic phone, after lots of time trying and as fine patients in need of care kept coming.

The dealership closes at 6 on Fridays and the service department is not open on Saturdays.

It was already 3, and the tow truck would take at least two hours to arrive.

Then there would be travel time, and time was of the essence. 

The local repair place was open on Saturday, but costs would be out of pocket. The dealership covered repairs under warranty but was farther away, not open on Saturday, and who knows what fate awaited both you and the vehicle once there and how long that fate would take to end.

A conversation with the tow truck driver was encouraging; it seemed as if he knew what he was doing. 

Then a patient arrived and noted that there was an accident along the way to the dealership blocking the intersection; two fire trucks were on the scene and there was quite a backup of vehicles in the area.

The car had to make it to the dealership before 6, and a loaner had to be secured before 6 in order to make it to work the next week.

Lord only knows how long it would take to even get the vehicle back, or what would even be done to it.

And it was a very busy morning and afternoon properly caring for others at the clinic.

So tired. 

So, so very tired.

In God we totally trust.

Keeping in mind the entire time that the Nine Day Novena to Saint Joseph was in progress, that Saint Joseph had already assisted that morning while in church before work, that his Feast Day is on Wednesday, March 19th, that there was a miracle on his Feast Day last year at the other clinic, and that God has a plan, you wondered how all this was going to play out while praying for the stamina to endure it all.

Lord, you must want me to meet people in the service department at Ford.

Lord, you must really want me to meet people in the service department at Ford.

Okay.

Thy will be done.

Thy will be done.

So tired, but Thy will be done.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE TOW TRUCK ARRIVED

The nice man driving it was able to start the battery after we could not, and said there are problems with that make and model of the past several years.

Anything left on (heater, ac, radio, headlights that are set to automatically turn off), even after the vehicle is turned off, can and does drain the battery.

Imagine unfathomably expensive and tech-laden modern-day vehicles engineered by educated people that function so poorly right off the assembly line.

What wonders.

The last woman spoken to at the dealership's service department said she did not know that was even a thing (but she should).

Her car doesn't do that, she said (around and around and around we go again...) 

After doing a few minutes of research online the next morning, that is very much a thing and a portable battery charger was ordered to keep in the vehicle to be able to help one's self because we live in such strange times. 

A basic, affordable new vehicle that runs: unavailable. 

HOW THE EXTRAORDINARY AFTERNOON EVENTS OF THAT DAY ENDED

The man who had helped so much said there was no need to bring the vehicle to the dealership that afternoon, which made a cautiously optimistic but unconvinced you unfathomably happy, because you were really tired and needed to go home after work and rest (too tired to eat).

Then, the kind man said that his upper body was hurting and he inquired about the care provided at the clinic.

The man who had helped so much did not accept a bottle of water - he said he was fasting - but he left with the clinic's card and a compassionate invitation to return.

"We will take good care of you."

Traditional Catholic

Detroit, Michigan, United States of America