One of the biggest frustrations for a salesman is dealing with religious people who want to go home and pray about it. This frustrates some of my co-workers quite a bit. Why do you have to pray about it? And why don’t you pray about it before test driving the car? As a Christian myself, I can understand the need to pray about big decisions. And being that the Bible is filled with admonitions to pray, I don’t apologize for doing so. From my experience, talking with God has been a help when I have wanted to buy a car.
For instance, I was recently considering a used SAAB 9-3 that our dealership had taken in as a trade-in. It was in good condition with no rust, plenty of power, and THE HEATER WORKED!!! What could be wrong with that? I still prayed about it asking God to guide me on whether to replace the Jag with this newer vehicle.
My wife liked it. My kids liked it. And even though I’d rather drive the Jag into the ground, the thought of driving a car with a working heater was a nice thought. So, this morning, after asking God for wisdom again, I decided to purchase the SAAB. But then something happened. I got into the SAAB to drive it to work and the fan didn’t come on. I figured I had missed a button or something but it just wouldn’t come on. I pushed the defrost button, auto button, fan buttons, and even moved the temperature buttons but nothing happened the whole way in!
There are times when God doesn’t give me a direct answer to my prayers. I suppose those are the times when he wants me to apply what I’ve already learned from him to the situation. But this time he used a circumstance to clearly show me what I should do. I chose not to purchase the SAAB and will keep driving the Jaguar with long underwear and a portable heater. Hmm… Maybe I should pray for wisdom on fixing the heater now!