The expense was for new tires on my old Ford truck. My tires had been low on tread for sometime, but I really didn’t want to buy new tires.
The reasons I didn’t want to buy new tires are simple:
- $587 is a lot of money for most people.
- In September the Raby household income dropped roughly by 60% when we began Discovery Church, so $587 was a ton of money!
- I feared that as soon as I put new tires on my old truck with a crisp 202,000 miles, it would die, and therefore the money would be wasted.
In the end, I swallowed hard, ate some Ramen noodles for lunch and bought the tires. Why? Because in the end safety out weighed the savings. The trouble with making these choices is many times you never see the blessings of wise decisions. However, I did yesterday. One mile from my house, on the way home from work a head on collision happened 75 feet in front of me. A gentlemen driving an SUV in the oncoming lane lost control on the wet roads and swerved across the yellow lines hitting the car directly in front of me. It sent the car spiraling out of the road into a tree, which broke in half and laid on top of the car. I had a split second to react on a wet slippery road. All those years riding four wheelers and motorcycles paid off as I made two defensive driving moves dodging in between the two cars without hitting either of them. I pulled off the road and ran to check on those in the crash – thankfully they were both wearing seat belts and were OK.
If I had not spent the $587 on new tires there would have been 3 cars in the crash – as there is no way I could have made the sharp cuts with the old tires. Thankfully, and with praise to my heavenly Father watching out for me – I was able to finish the one mile drive to my wife and daughter.
Which makes me ask this question: What dangers are you putting yourself in by not being willing to pay some tough prices?
- Are you putting your marriage in danger because you won’t pay the price to protect and nurture your relationship?
- Are you putting the future of your children in jeopardy because you aren’t willing to be the ‘bad’ guy and discipline them? Or, because you won’t pay the financial price to spend time with them?
- Are you putting yourself in financial danger because you’re not willing to pay into a savings/retirement account?
- Are you hurting your organization because you’re not willing to pay the price making tough decisions requires?
Here’s the deal: Paying the $587 still hurts my bank account, but not as much as a head on collision would have hurt my family.
Pay the price that making wise decisions requires. You’ll be glad you did.
– Brad
bradraby.com 