just turn the radio up.....

Last week I read "Through Painted Deserts" by Donald Miller. It's about Donald and his friend, Paul, who decide to take a trip from Donald's home in Texas to Paul's home in Oregon in an old, beat up, hippie-looking VW van. There's alot of symbolism (how their trip is like a spiritual journey, the van is like our body in that it's fallible, etc.) in the book and I loved it.

At one point in the journey, Donald notices that Paul's face has a certain red glow about it while they're driving one night. He looks at the instrument panel and notices that the "check engine" light is on. He asks Paul if he knew this, and Paul responded that he noticed it about 20 miles back. Their solution? Donald got some gum out of the glove compartment, chewed it for about 30 seconds, then stuck the gum over the light. Problem solved. If you can't see the light that must mean that everything's fine, they reasoned.

It made me think about my first car, the '76 Monza. Any time my car would start to make a strange noise when I was in high school, I'd tell Dad about it. His common response? "Just turn the radio up and you won't hear it!"

Donald Miller and Dad are probably somehow related.....