It was a warm day. I had time for a trip to the gas station. Riding to the filling station just for the purpose of a fill-up seemed strange but this was an errand of necessity.

The station was full. I slowed down to see if a bay would open up. Timing was perfect. A car pulled out and I slipped in right behind it, acing-out two others with my aggressive move.

For a fleeting moment I was enjoying that tiny victory. One small sign quickly changed my mood into chagrine. The price of gas was not only over $3.00 per gallon, it was $3.38 per gallon! That’s the highest it’s been in my years in Michigan.

This is a frustration that is too familiar to all of us who depend on the internal combustion engine. We need to get from point A to point B many times over. That means that we are stuck. We have to buy the gas.

Unfortunately, this high price for gasoline is not new to me. I lived in Scotland in the late eighties. Gasoline is sold by the liter. After you convert from British pounds to American dollars and from liters to gallons, I was paying over $5.00 per gallon years ago. My little car was powered by a miniscule 1000cc engine and fed by a 9 gallon gas tank.

That past experience prepared me for what life is like today in the good ol’ USA. Arithmetic never changes though. Instead of driving up to the pump in a micro car, I pull up in my Cheverolet Avalanche. This is the most versatile perfect vehicle I have ever owned. The life that God has given to me calls for so many different activities from hauling outdoor gear to arriving at the theater with important guests. So with a big rig this stop for gas is painful.

Once the pump is on and the gas is being poured into my tank the counter is turns into a blur. The first total surpasses the co-pay amount for a doctor’s visit. This is just the beginning. I take on breath and the cost has now passed my internet bill and then the electric bill.

There is a small upside to this very frustrating problem. When I am filling up at a station that still uses the dial counter, I stand as close to the rotating numbers as I can. They spin so fast that it is like a personal fan to cool you down on a hot day.