Did God Really Pick My Car? | Mick | 021

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What's up everybody?
It's Mick from When You Look.

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This is the story of the 2015
Toyota Highlander.

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You ready?
Let's go.

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Welcome to When You Look, where
ordinary people share their

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extraordinary experiences and
you get to decide, was it

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coincidence or God?
So it's late summer of 2020 and

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I've just launched my own
consulting business.

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Now my vehicle at this point is
a 2016 Toyota Tundra and our

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other family vehicle is a 2016
Toyota Sequoia.

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Both of these vehicles have a
5.7 liter V8 in them and they

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are not great for gas mileage.
As I start to launch the

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consulting business, it's pretty
clear that zipping around town

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in the Toyota Tundra is just
really not going to work.

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Not only does the gas mileage
create a challenge with the

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dollars and cents and the cost
of gas, but even parking the

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thing isn't all that easy.
And so truly, zipping around

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really wasn't much of an option.
So I had this idea, and it

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really wasn't my own idea
because it kind of came out of

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nowhere.
And that was Highlander Hybrid.

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I thought about it for about a
day or so and then I did a tiny

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bit of research on them and
realized I was like, wow, we've

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previously had a Toyota
Highlander.

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We really liked it.
And the gas mileage on a

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Highlander hybrid is even
better, like significantly

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better, at least according to
the specs.

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Maybe this could be something
that would make sense, but

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admittedly hybrids really
weren't exactly our thing.

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As you can tell, we had two
vehicles that had 5.7 liter V

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eights in them.
So it's a bit out of the

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ordinary for me to be thinking
Highlander hybrid.

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But I talked to my wife about it
and I said, hey, listen, I just

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want to run an idea by you.
I'm like, you know, it's

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challenging for me with the
Tundra running around town with

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the new business.
How would you feel if we sold

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the Tundra and bought a
Highlander hybrid?

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And without hesitation, she was
like, I'm good with it.

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And I'm like, oh, wait, wait,
really?

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I mean, it was one of those
things where because we're a

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very thoughtful couple, we make
decisions together.

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I was fully anticipating that
there was going to be more

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discussion.
And my wife's response was, no,

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that makes sense.
I'm good with it.

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My wife's only question to me
was, are you going to be OK with

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this?
Because we had actually sold a

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Toyota Highlander in order to
fund the Toyota Tundra.

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And my response to her was,
yeah, I'm totally fine with

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this.
This will be a complete non

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issue.
The Highlander that we sold was

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white with a cream interior and
it was primarily my wife's car.

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And we bought a Tundra that was
silver with a Gray interior

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because that was going to be
primarily my car and that was

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the styling and the color key
that I sort of liked.

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O I got agreement from my wife
to have the Highlander hybrid be

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silver and Gray just like the
Tundra was.

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And I said, I'm like, are you
going to be able to live with

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that?
And she's like, yeah, you're

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going to be driving it
primarily, so it'll still kind

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of be your car.
So yes, not a big deal.

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You can have the silver and the
Gray.

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I'm like, OK, great.
So I find a silver one in

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Northern Virginia and I find a
white one in the greater

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Richmond area and I decide I'm
going to go look at the silver

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one and if that doesn't work out
I'll potentially go look at the

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white 1.
So I drive a number of hours

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from Greater Richmond up to the
dealership in Northern Virginia

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and check it out.
All seemed fine.

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So I got in the vehicle and then
took it for a test drive.

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And the test drive just left
something to be desired.

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It had been a couple of years
since we'd had our own

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Highlander, but this one for
some reason just seemed a little

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bit noisier.
And I couldn't put my finger on

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it because I'm like, this is the
same exact car.

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It's literally shaped the same.
It's a different color, but it's

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otherwise equipped the same.
But this one just doesn't seem

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like it's as quiet as the one
that we had.

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And when I got back to the
dealership and parked it, it

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just seemed like it was small.
And the more I considered that,

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the more I realized that the
Tundra with the Gray interior

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was great.
It was roomy and bright.

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And in contrast, because the
Highlander was narrower and a

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smaller and tighter car, it
seemed a lot darker and not

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nearly as appealing in Gray.
So I left there and drove many

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hours back to the greater
Richmond area and then even

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further South to this other
dealership.

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And I get to the other
dealership, start speaking with

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somebody there about the white
Highlander hybrid, and they give

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me the keys to it.
And I go out to the vehicle.

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And as I sat in the vehicle, the
moment my butt touched that seat

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and I closed the door, I knew
this is the one.

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Literally knew it.
It was a complete knowing, a

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complete degree of confidence.
And in a way, the exact opposite

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of what I had experienced in the
silver and Gray one, where that

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one was kind of just like
something just kind of seems off

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sitting in the white one with
the tan interior.

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I knew this is it.
In fact, I was so convinced of

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that I knew at that moment I
don't even need to drive this.

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I'm literally good to buy it,
which is insane when you think

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about it, because of course
you're not going to buy a new

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car or a used car without test
driving it, right?

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And so ultimately, I did test
drive it, but I remember putzing

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slowly through the parking lot
at the dealership thinking this

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is a waste of time.
I know I don't need to actually

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drive this thing.
This is the vehicle that I'm

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supposed to buy.
I take it for a test drive.

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I call my wife.
I'm like, hey, get a load of

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this, this is the vehicle for
us.

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I'm going to move forward with
this.

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And she's like, OK, sounds like
you're really clear on this.

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I'm like, I'm 100% locked in.
This is the vehicle for us.

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So I tell her I'm like, I'm
going to head inside trying to

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negotiate a little bit more off
of this thing and I'll keep you

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posted.
Well, I go in and I begin the

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negotiation process with the
sales guy and he sort of like

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hears me out for a second and
then he says, hey, man, I'm I'm

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sorry to let you know this, but
we're a haggle free dealership.

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And I'm like, really?
There's nothing that says that

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anywhere.
He's like, yeah, we're fixed

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price, dude.
It's it is, it is exactly what

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it is.
Do you want it?

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And I'm like, yeah, I'll take
it.

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So I was a little disappointed
because I was fired up and like

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ready to get 500 bucks knocked
off of this or something.

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It turns out that that was
impossible because they didn't

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negotiate that way.
And so I end up buying the

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vehicle.
And one of the things that was

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really cool about this and the
way that God worked all of this

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through is that we were going to
sell the Toyota Tundra, but we

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hadn't yet sold it because we
needed that as our second

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vehicle.
Despite having launched my

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consulting business, my employer
that I was leaving was totally

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aware of that and asked me to
stay through the end of

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September.
So I needed a loan in order to

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purchase this vehicle for the
handful of days or handful of

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weeks it would take for us to
then sell the Tundra to then pay

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off the Highlander that I was
buying.

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And the beauty here is, is that
because I was still employed,

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the application for the loan was
completely painless.

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Having a great credit score,
good income, all of that type of

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stuff made it literally plug and
play.

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And I was able to purchase that
vehicle without any issues.

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Why?
Because God had orchestrated all

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of that.
So it wasn't.

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But a couple of weeks later, 2,
maybe three, that we ended up

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selling the Tundra.
And then we paid off the

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Highlander and I'm out to lunch
with a buddy of mine and I'm

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explaining this whole scenario
and I said, Michael, here I am.

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I'm like ready to go.
I want to get 500 bucks off of

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this thing.
And I know it's a pretty good

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deal already, but I'm like, I'm
going to get another 500 bucks

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off of this.
And he says to me, God pre

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negotiated it.
And I'm like, you are totally

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right.
Because the white Highlander

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Hybrid was a couple $1000 less
than market value, it was a

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couple grand less than the
Silver 1.

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And it was exactly the car for
us sitting at a dealership where

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I didn't have to do anything
other than come in and buy it.

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So God had quite literally pre
negotiated it.

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The question that we ask our
guests often is was all of this

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coincidence or God?
And I'm going to tell you flat

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out, without question, this is
God.

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Because the idea of a hybrid
came from him, not something

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normal for us, period.
The idea of going back to a

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Highlander from what we had
before came from him.

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The fact that my wife was
completely on board from the

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outset, an indication came from
him.

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Then having two vehicles
available at the same time in

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the colors that we kind of liked
and knowing one, the silver one,

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not the right one, and then
knowing the white 100%, that's

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the one him, the loan being easy
peasy him, the price point pre

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negotiated and thousands of
dollars less him.

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He provided the whole thing, and
by God's grace, it's still sits

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in our driveway.
So how has my life changed as a

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result of this?
Well, it's just been another

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example of God providing.
So when I need a reminder, I can

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look at that car.
I can remember His provision.

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It's a clear and tangible
example, and I have so many of

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them, so many of them, what I
call my personal mountains of

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evidence, separate from all the
stuff that I've seen in the

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Bible.
Our family has been blessed with

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its own mountains of evidence,
and this is just another one.

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The 2015 Toyota Highlander
Hybrid that sits in our driveway

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is the car God prepared for us
to have.

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So He gets all the glory in this
one.

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And you may feel differently,
but that's the beauty of when

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you look ordinary people like me
sharing an extraordinary

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experience.
And then you get to decide, was

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it coincidence or God?
Let me know what you think about

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all of this in the comments.
We welcome your feedback.

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We'd love to hear what you have
to say about it.

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And if you haven't yet
subscribed, please subscribe

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because subscriptions help with
reach, and reach helps more

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people hear these stories for
God's glory.

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And that extends the glory that
he gets.

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Until next time, thanks a bunch
for listening.

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God bless and all hail King
Jesus.