Raising kids can be expensive, so Brenda and I took a course on real estate investing. We used our new-found knowledge to invest in a house, and we helped the owner avoid foreclosure in the process. In the end we made a sizable profit which we split 50/50 with the owner. Of course, then we were ready to do it again. This time, we used the profits to buy a house outright, but a short time later the housing market collapsed and we were left with more debt than we could manage. In all honesty, I ignored signs suggesting we should not have bought this second house, but I trusted my own judgment and felt desperate to pay bills, so we pushed ahead.
At the same time, the following recession resulted in my work hours being cut. The result was that our main residence fell into foreclosure. During the next two and one-half years, we tried everything to catch up and restore our good-standing with the mortgage company, but the mortgage company utilized a variety of unethical schemes to add outrageous lawyer's fees to our debt at a monthly rate that exceeded our monthly house payment. Ultimately, we failed to get out of foreclosure, a fate that many experienced during those years, and the mortgage company had so increased what we owed that there was no money left over from equity when they sold it to pay off any of the second mortgage.
Because we believed the mortgage company was acting unethically, we prayed that God would judge them for their greed. I also made it a point to ask friends, family, and our pastors to pray that God would judge them. Finally, the day came when we were told to vacate the premises. I then canceled insurance and signed papers to turn over the house on a Saturday, two days before the deadline.
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But the story doesn't end there. On Sunday night a storm blew through the area. Then on Monday, our good friend Ron called and asked if we had seen our house. We had not. He told us the storm had seriously damaged it, so that afternoon, we drove out to see it. It appeared to me that three trees had fallen on the house. A maple tree from the neighbor's yard to the south fell on the garage also clipping the corner of the neighbor’s house, a massive limb from a tree in the neighbor's yard on the north side landed on the back bedroom, and a walnut tree from our own backyard fell onto the family room. The trees knocked the garage off its foundation, and collapsed the family room roof. In other words, the damage was extensive. Incredibly, this appeared to be the only house in the neighborhood with serious damage. We were very thankful that we were no longer in the house when it happened, and also that we no longer owned it.
And that was only the beginning of woes for our mortgage company. Lisa Madigan was the Attorney General for Illinois. During the foreclosure process I had written a letter to her detailing how we were being mistreated by our mortgage company. She wrote back saying she was going to do something about it. I really doubted she could do anything about it, yet she proved me wrong. She actually did something.
In the end Lisa Madigan won a seven billion dollar settlement against CitiGroup which owned Citimortgage, our mortgage company. The settlement, along with her name, made national news headlines, which is where I first heard of it. As a result, we were issued a sizable check. This check was enough for us to purchase a used Prius outright, which at the time saved us about $250 per month in gas, due to Brenda's long commutes.
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Our house and garage. Brenda’s sister Tina, and our son Daniel are viewing the damage.
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A yellow blessing
The Prius was a former Yellow Cab brand taxi that had reached Chicago's mandatory five year retirement age.
The car had holes where the taxi sign mounted, not to mention bold black cab numbers and Yellow Cab emblems.
On the day we bought it, I taped over the holes with aluminum tape, then spray painted over the symbols and numbers. The job was less than professional, but by blending two shades of yellow the colors actually matched fairly well, and really did not look bad – at least if you are a fan of spray paint and aluminum tape! For us, the car became a major blessing, and its great miles-per-gallon motivated us to begin a tradition of driving to find warm weather in January. In fact, on our first trip we were actually able to drive to Orlando, Florida on just $51 of gas!
Our yellow taxicab Prius on the day we brought it home, after a quick amateur spray paint job.
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In hindsight, it is easy to see God's hand in all of this, but at the time the changes were scary. When I look back, I see that when we ignored God's direction and things went horribly wrong God somehow brought good from them.
Misfortune turned into blessings. The bottom line is that God did indeed judge our mortgage company for their misdeeds in response to prayer, and he also was watching out for our well-being, even though at times we could not see it.
One of the results is that Brenda and I now look at finances differently. Like many others, we have caught Dave Ramsey's vision for debt-free living. So while our experience was embarrassing, we are now more conservative with money.
Prius Miracle
March 6, 2015 brought a bitter cold morning, and the Prius would not start. There was little money for repairs as we had been saving to attend two weddings. One wedding was to be in Seattle where our son Justin was to wed Paige, and another would occur in Texas, where our son Jonathan was to wed Kiley. The weddings were only one month apart, money was tight, and we were budgeting well in advance.
This car problem seemed to threaten the trips. So we prayed hard. I was determined to not dip into savings, so the car continued to sit in the driveway while I attempted to fix it myself. But after spending a meager 34 dollars on parts it still would not run.
According to my journal, about two weeks passed and I finally gave up and called Toyota. Their service department was gone for the weekend, so they advised me to call back Monday. But Monday morning brought a blizzard with seven or eight inches of snow – not great weather for towing.
By Tuesday the roads were plowed, and I called for a tow.
And then an amazing thing happened. While I was still on the phone with Toyota, Brenda announced we had just received a check in the mail for $580.
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It was part of a class action settlement that we had signed up for during the previous summer, and one that had nothing to do with the house. We had no idea how large the settlement might be, and we had completely forgotten about it. But that is not the end of the story.
A couple hours later, a tow truck took the Prius to the Toyota dealership. Two days later we had the car back for a total cost of $546 – less than the check in the mail, But when you add that to what I had recorded in my journal that I spent on parts, we were exactly even! In spite of our doubts, God had answered our prayers in his own way, and his provision and timing were perfect!
As a side note, my journal also reveals that on that same Monday morning with all the snow, our daughter-in-law Kiley called at 5am saying her car had gone into a ditch on a country road. After a long struggle in deep snow with lots of prayer we were unable to pull her out. But then, a Baptist brother with a truck stopped and succeeded in pulling her out. We thanked him profusely, and also God! Someday we may visit his church in appreciation. It was Heritage Baptist in Roscoe, Illinois. But now, back to the Prius.
Brenda safe
Since we moved to rural Wisconsin, Brenda has continued to commute thirty miles to and from work on the night shift at UPS. I often worry about her driving in the middle of the night over snowy roads. On more than one occasion she has been nearly stranded during blizzards when driving the Prius. It sits so low that it often dragged its underside on snow that other cars had already passed over.
So a topic of our prayers became a request for a Jeep. It became a prayer that God answered, but not without pain in the process.
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One evening after Brenda left for work she called me, sounding panic stricken. She told me that she had just been rear-ended while sitting at a stoplight. Brenda said she was okay, but the car didn't fare as well. I immediately borrowed a vehicle and went to get her.
When I arrived, I found that the back left fender of the Prius was digging into the tire, three of the four doors wouldn't open, and the rear hatch wouldn't latch because the rear bumper had been pushed in several inches. As a result, the rear fenders were also bulging out. The good news is that we were able to drive the car home with the fender rubbing the tire after some serious prying with a tire iron.
The other driver's insurance totaled the car out and offered us a check. Then, for a little less money they let us keep the car. After putting on my “Red Green” hat (www.redgreen.com :) I was able to stretch the frame to nearly original dimensions with the help of a tree and a chain. This fixed the doors and even the bulging fenders.
Only the rear hatch still had problems – it wouldn't latch.
But it actually didn't look bad, and the creative use of a bungy cord inside the car kept it from bouncing. So the car was like new, at least in my way of thinking. We then went in search of an all-wheel-drive vehicle with the insurance money, which honestly didn’t seem like enough.
Buying a Jeep
One day on Craigslist I saw a Jeep Cherokee for sale at a local car lot. Brenda was feeling ill, and I am not proud to say that I dragged her out to look at it. After a test drive, we decided to look for something better – and cheaper. So then, without going home, I found another Jeep on Craigslist sixty miles east in Kenosha that seemed like a steal. After emailing the owner, we learned he could show it to us after 6
pm. Knowing bargains don't last long, I am again not proud that I dragged my sick wife along to go look at it.
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We didn't even take time to stop home, which would eventually come back to haunt us. I then emailed the owner asking for his address.
When we arrived in Kenosha, the owner still hadn't replied, and with no address, things seemed hopeless.
Brenda commented that we hadn't even prayed about this, and it certainly seemed like we were paying the consequences. So we stopped at McDonalds and prayed.
Then, looking on Craigslist we found another Jeep well under budget across the state line. It had fewer miles and was five years newer than the one in Kenosha. After asking God for guidance, we felt we had confirmation that we should look at it. I called the owner to say we could see it the next day because it was already getting late, but he told us we were only 20 minutes from his house. So even though it was late, we headed over to see it. After a test drive we made an offer and bought it.
By then we were really tired and didn't want to drive back home in the middle of the night over strange roads. So we checked in at a nearby motel. Of course, we had never packed for such a stay! In the end it seemed worth it, and the next day Brenda was feeling better. The drive home was sunny and pleasant, and the Jeep, with only minor repairs has proven itself dependable. Since then it has been the vehicle of choice in blizzards. So now, in answer to prayer, we had two cars – a Prius with great gas mileage, and a Jeep that goes through snow.
My take-away is that God does not always do things the way we would want him to. In the end, God answered our prayer for a four wheel drive in a dramatic fashion with a collision and an insurance payment. Then, we almost blew the search by not praying, but God still led us to a good outcome.
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Trust in the name of Jesus
We continued to drive the damaged Prius, which really didn't look that bad after my amateur repairs. Then, in January of 2016, Brenda and I planned a vacation to Florida to get away from the cold.
When our neighbor Michelle learned of our plans, she told us she was praying God would bless us with us a new car because she insisted, as she had informed us on several occasions, that the Prius was “on its last legs. ” But we didn't pay much attention to Michelle's worries since the car was running fine. I recall once chuckling and saying, “I second that prayer for a new car,” assuming of course that if God answered her prayer it would be free!
In nearly 34 years of marriage Brenda and I had never made car payments. As you may recall, even the Prius was a cash purchase, and its great mileage encouraged us to take more trips. We had already driven it to Colorado, Florida, Washington State, and Texas twice. Now, with the odometer nearing 325,000, there seemed to be no end in sight. But Michelle continued to worry.
On the morning we left for Florida it was twelve degrees above zero. We weren't fazed by the cold because we were heading straight south into warmer weather. We took the long way, wrapping around the Gulf coast through Louisiana and Alabama. As we approached Tallahassee, however, Michelle's worries were realized, and the car quit.
We ended up stranded beside the expressway in the shade of an overpass for about two hours in wonderful 75 degree January temperatures. Finally, we were able to get the car towed to the nearest Toyota dealer in Tallahassee. It was Sunday, and the dealer was closed, so the tow truck driver dropped us at a nearby motel.
The next day was January 16, 2017. The dealer reported that their technicians failed to find an inexpensive solution. We were feeling desperate, and were not cash rich.
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So we began talking options. If we had to make a down payment on a used car, it would cut our vacation short.
And that is why we ended up with a brand new Corolla. You see, Toyota had a special no-money-down offer for new Corollas.
But as we sat at the salesman's desk, I entered the anticipated payments and insurance into my checkbook app.
It was worrisome. Money would be tight if we signed – or so I thought, and just as we were trying to pay off lingering debt. So I said to Brenda, “What else can we do?” At that exact moment the news channel on the big screen behind the salesman zoomed in on a street protester's sign which said,
“TRUST IN THE NAME OF JESUS.” I said to Brenda,
“Did you see that?” She had not, so I said that I was now okay with signing the papers, and then told her about the sign.
We then went on to enjoy a warm and wonderful week in Daytona Beach with a brand new car, while Wisconsin suffered in a deep freeze. Immediately upon returning home, God came through for us. A long-time employee at my company left for another job. The result was that my very next paycheck increased due to more hours.
The increase was more than enough to offset the extra monthly payment, and it has remained so. A few months later, I even began routinely working overtime, after our company was bought by Seraph Industries, as described earlier in Chapter 16.
Indeed, Michelle's prayer was answered, and God did it without us even having to initiate a car search. In the end, the only necessary decision was to trust in the name of Jesus! •
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