Its Pouring

Last week our Corolla copped an attitude and wouldn't start consistently. This morning I had to coast-start it to drive it to work not knowing if I would be driving it home or hitch hiking.

Last night just as I pulled into our driveway I noticed steam billowing out from under the hood of the truck. In a moment of dis-belief I took a close look at the engine temperature gauge. All at once my dis-belief transitioned to "oh, no" then to, "not the truck too! OH MAN!" The coolant was loudly boiling somewhere under the hood and vaporized coolant was blasting out of some orifice of the cooling system. As you may have guessed, the needle was pegged way above that red line near the top of the temperature gauge.

I think the car needs a new starter which I'm fairly confident I can replace in our driveway.
The truck was pulled onto a roll-off and hauled to the nearby "309 Service Station" for a professional diagnosis. The worst case is that the head gasket blew and the engine has irreparable damage due to coolant mixing with the oil. The other possibilities are better:

1. the radiator is clogged (cheaper)
   
2. the water pump has failed (cheap)
   
3. the thermostat has failed (cheapest, I think)
   
4. the head gasket is damaged resulting in the bad pressurization of the cooling system (this would require a moderately costly repair but less expensive than a new engine or a new-to-the-Martins-mini-van)

God is good.

I'm sure I am unaware of the hundreds of times God spares my life or spares me and my family of pain and suffering. In the past two days I've been nearly squished by big trucks twice because the drivers weren't paying close enough attention. Thank you, Lord for your protection!