Lectureship (aka Summit) is happening here at ACU next week and I have taken on a little job. I am going to be a driver of vans to pick people up who are in town with no cars. They will call in, I will get radioed and then go get them wherever they are. Then I get to take them home at night. I have been told most of them will be speakers (maybe even Brian McLaren). Sounds pretty fun to me! I love meeting new people.

To be "qualified" to drive I had to watch a little safety video about what not to do. The main idea was be careful and to watch out when backing up. I am now "qualified" but I failed to mention my past van driving adventures. Lets take a walk down memory lane.

All of these occurred during my time as an intern in Colorado. All of them occurred in the same van. I'm surprised it is still running.

First incident, driving on the highway with 2 kids in the van. I had not been there long and was still very mesmerized by the mountains. I could not stop looking as I drove, but I came close to the edge of the road and had to swerve pretty fast to avoid going off. Ooops!!

Second incident, I was in the church parking lot backing the van out of its spot...and talking on the phone with my mom. Bad idea. I backed up w/o paying attention and heard "crunch" and then "bang." I told my mom I had to go and just hung up. I sat there until the land lady came out to check on me because she heard what happened. I knocked over the light pole. I cried because I felt bad but she said it happens about every year so it wasn't a big deal. The rest of the summer the preacher called me Smash.

Third incident, I was taking some girls camping. We decided to take the van because my car was pretty small with 3 of us and all our stuff. We loaded up the van, and ran some errands before heading to Rocky Mt. We were about to take off and one of the girls mentioned smelling something funny. Luckily we remembered something we forgot so we headed back to the church. We pulled up and the other intern ran out and started yelling for us to get out of the van. It was smoking!!!!

Turned out I had been driving with the parking break on for about 30 min. Another oops moment! In my defense 1. the break light did not work so I had no indication it was still on, 2. I grew up in Texas and had never used a parking break before so I did not know to even look for something like that. Needless to say, we crammed in my car and had a great camping trip. They changed the break pads just to be safe, but everything seemed ok.

All this to say I do not have the best luck with 15 passenger vans. I am hoping for some luck while driving Lectureship speakers around. Should be an adventure. I will update after its over.