For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? (Luke 14:29-30)

 

Nearly two weeks ago, Holy Spirit prompted me to start looking for a car to replace our 2004 Buick Regal which has served us well for the past 5 years. The odometer, which sported 80,000 km when we purchased it in 2008 is about to hit the 350,000 km mark.

 

When I sensed this nudge, it was still running well, averaging over 30 mpg on the highway. It did not feel like a car that needed to be replaced in a hurry.

 

However, within the past week, it has been acting its age and a number of issues have arisen that would cost way more than the car is worth to fix. So, I had to eat crow and admit to Holy Spirit that He knew what He was talking about when He gave me that prompt. I apologized for not acting on it right away with a sense of urgency.

 

As a result, Sulojana and I have had to switch our thinking into vehicle acquisition mode. One of the first decisions we had to make was what kind of vehicle we would look for. After tossing around the possibility of buying a small SUV or crossover, we eventually decided that a sedan would probably be a better choice, since it would be simply the two of us occupying the vehicle for the most part. And, the fuel efficiency would be better.

 

There was just one “luxury” that we both agreed was a necessity. Are you ready for it? Heated seats. No compromise on this “requirement.” (Perhaps this has something to do with our age?) Since we’ve been very happy with GM vehicles, we also decided that we would prefer a Buick or Chevrolet.

 

The next step was to agree on the price that we were willing to pay for the pleasure of owning such a vehicle. Sadly, we needed the input of our friendly neighbourhood banker to make this decision. Within a couple of days, that matter was settled as well.

 

Now we could approach our car dealer friend Ben Soji and ask him to be our eyes and ears for a suitable vehicle. With all the Christmas holidays, he has not been able to move as swiftly on it as expected…but, from tomorrow onwards, the intensity of the search will increase. We are confident that within a matter of days, we will indeed have our next vehicle.

 

This process of planning the purchase of a car got me thinking about the New Year’s resolutions that many of us will make over the next few days. Let me fess up by acknowledging that my track record has not exactly been stellar in this particular area.

 

As I was reading through Luke 14 recently (in my journey through the gospel of Luke), I began to realize that one of the reasons why many of my resolutions did not lead to successful results is because I had omitted this critical step that Jesus demanded of his disciples: COUNT THE COST.

 

By using the example of a building project, Jesus gets us to ask this question: “What price am I willing to pay to have that which I desire?”

 

This is a critical question to ask when we make our New Year’s resolutions or set any other goals for that matter. When we take the time to count the cost of making that decision and seeing it come to fruition, we may decide that it is unrealistic for us at this particular juncture and drop it. Or we may be excited to pay that price and proceed full steam ahead. Either way, this simple step has accomplished its purpose!

 

Dear DWOD friend, are you one that counts the cost before making such decisions? Would you share your experience with the rest of us? Thanks in advance.