illuminate_commander@hotmail.com

I thought that you might like to look at some pictures of the Illuminate. When I saw Star Trek III for the first time, I decided that I needed to name my car. I was going to call it a roadster, but then I found out that roadsters have open cockpits and bench seats. The final (corny) idea was to call it the L.L. (Lord's Limousine) Illuminate, but that first part sounded corny and didn't really go well as an electronic message address (which still works, by the way), so I haven't mentioned it in a long time.

Here is a picture of the Illuminate 1 after it got smashed.

The Illuminate 1 is a 1998 Ford Taurus that I purchased for $10,300 out the door in September of 2000. I hadn't always been expecting to get such a nice first car. One afternoon, my dad told me that I needed to and visit my grandfather who lived very near my home. I asked my dad if he was sure because, "I already did some work for him today and he could have talked to me then." My dad told me that he was sure, so I walked over and my grandfather offered me $5000, promising to provide it as soon as I knew which car I wanted.

I wrecked it in my first at-fault accident as I was determining a route away from Mars Hill Church in Seattle on June 26th of the year 2005. I had taken an acquaintance to hear Mark Driscoll preach from Genesis 38 about how God is able to save even those people who are so bad that they themselves know that they are bad and deserve His judgment. Unfortunately, my acquaintance was not such a person. After the service, I failed to yield the right of way and was smashed there on the starboard side, just forward of the door.

So used the Illuminate 1 during all of Junior College and for most of my time at the university. It depreciated at only ~10% and I received $4700 from the insurance company.

Here is a picture of the Illuminate 2 which I purchased in December of 2005 because I knew that I would be wanting to go to job interviews and perhaps dating/courting (whatever you want to call it) and I did not want to be late like some of the rides that I had had during the previous five months without the Illuminate 1. I decided to go without the car for those five months because I didn't really think that I needed it and I thought that I could save money. Walking and later biking the three miles to work and back every day that summer was good, and I really didn't need a car at school, since I lived so close to campus. Also, I had recently determined that I probably wouldn't have a girlfriend (what I would now call a VIP) anytime near that time.

In as much as imitation is said to be good flattery, I am including a picture of my community group leader's car, which he calls the "Turbo Taurus (Illuminate 3)."