So early Monday morning, I get my son up and ready for school. I have to work early so I take him to his aunt and uncle. Smooth ride this morning I have no thought of a current issue outside of my AC. I drop him off, chill for 15 minutes, then get ready to leave for work.

Start my car, it's running idle a few minutes. Put it in reverse, roll out of the apartments. I get a few hundred feet down from where I pull out, steering wheel locks up. I realize "oh shit my engine cut off wtf!?" Kill the ignition, restart it, go a few hundred more feet, it cuts off again. "Ok I can't get to work I need to find out what's going on."

So I pull back into the apartment and ask my uncle about it. I let it run while I talk to him and it cuts off again. Uncle says ride up to Auto zone, have them check the battery and alternator, It's a couple miles down the road. Ok I'll do my best.

I make my way there, restarting it the next two times it cuts off. Leaving it running as I walk in, I ask one employee to check it out. By the time I get back outside, it has died again, leaving the fan running. Well I explain the situation, he test the battery, saying "oh the battery is good but I can't test the alternator unless you take it out." My uncle pulls up and says "y'all should have a 3rd cable on there to test the alternator." Apparently it's missing and he knows nothing about it, didn't even know it was possible. "Let's go to O'Reilly's."

First O'Reilly got their tester stolen, so wet go to the next one. The drive from auto zone to the second O'Reilly's actually went smooth, like this never happened. So we make it to the next stop. Thank God they have their machine together. So a lovely lady comes out to test everything. I chose not to leave it running. She says "crank it up", so I do. Test the alternator and "the alternator is good. Cut the car off and I'll test your battery." Ok so my alternator is good? Let's see if it's the battery. "It's saying you have a bad battery."

Well shit I don't have $200 for a damn battery right now. So I give my appreciation and head back to the apartments, another smooth ride. Finally get in touch with my buddy/boss and he says "come to the house I'll check it out." I do my best to make it there, all green lights aside from the last few in an 8 mile drive, so still smooth. I get to his place, he checks the voltage and amps on both. They both read between 13-14 each. He says it can't be a bad battery, it must be something else. Seems like they're both getting power and my car hasn't cut off in a while.

Well, I know God's watching out for my son because it doesn't cut off when he's in the car. I know He's watching out for me because it only cuts off when I'm idle. Since that first day, it's cut off on me once this morning, maybe once yesterday. Still have power but my battery and engine symbols light up when it does happen. No flickering lights, no change in rpms until cutoff and steering lock.