If you want to embarrass or hurt someone,
nothing is better than an audience. And no matter how high or low they are
socially, financially, or whatever size their motor, caution needs to be
exercised. The first man in our account today is an internationally known race
driver. He has won all the major off road races, and just the mention of his
first name would give him away. He is filming a commercial with a new director,
who wants it done right the first time, and has heard that this man can be hard
to work for. No his name isn’t Robby. He goes to makeup, and then the card
girl holds up the cue cards for him to read. ACTION! And he starts off and
goes off on his own. CUT! Please just read what is on the card, ACTION! Same
thing, and then again. At this point the director blames the young girl, hold
them straight, are they I order, are they the right ones? It must be her fault,
this man is a celebrity. Then off to the side
another racer grabs a Sharpee and writes a few words on a card, hands it to the
girl, and tells the director, “try this.” ACTION! With the same results.
Incensed the director grabs the cards, and reads the top one-all obscenities,
and related to the celebrity’s mother. While the director looks up in rage, the
other racer leans over and whispers in his ear, “he can’t read.” No one thought
to ask if he could, it was assumed. So he tells the racer, just ad lib, tell it
like it is, and we’ll edit it later. He does, and a star is born.
Another racing legend is building his own trucks
for a race series. He hires a designer, fresh from college, but with racing
experience to design the trucks. As the fastener supplier, I was able to lend
him expertise based on years with NASCAR, and off road. But the engineer does it
like he was taught, lived in Chicago, raced carts, and never saw a desert
before. And wasn’t about to change, even though bolts were breaking, and they
weren’t for anyone else. No way was his design to blame. Finally confronted by
our engineer, Jimmy D. reviewed with him all the newbie had learned, then took
it to application. Reluctantly the owner of these new trucks changed, claiming
he was paying this man $75/hour, so he had to be right. And an amazing thing
happened, no more broken bolts, the trucks went on to be a success, and we were
vindicated. It was like one of my techs at Mercedes Benz was asked to look at a
woman’s AC. It had quit blowing, and so he reached under the hood, and replaced
a fuse. Instantly the AC blew cold, and she was thrilled, until she asked how
much. “Twenty dollars,” he told her. “But you only replaced a fuse, and it
took no time.” “Yes,” he replied, “but I knew which fuse.” Maybe having a
screw loose isn’t the same as a loose screw.
Finally a third man, not famous, worked with me
in a Sears warehouse. They would call down for a part number, give a small
description, and we would send it up to them. Simple enough. Until Jeff took
one request, “send me a green 21345 blender.” Wanting to please, he ran to the
shelf, and looking found none marked green. “We have no green, all we have is
avocado.” Avocados are green today, I’m told they were 40 years ago too.
Blenders may change, but avocadoes don’t. So it is amazing what we know, don’t
know, or think we know. Only to be confronted with the truth.
It had been a hard, long night of fishing. From
just a look inside the boats, with no fish, you could tell, and the mood of the
men reinforced that. All night in one spot, these trained and experienced men
were exhausted. They had fished successfully there for years. And then Jesus
comes up to them, and asks how is the fishing? What, doesn’t that add insult to
injury? But maybe he just wanted to clarify their position. They admitted
their fate, and so this carpenter told the fishermen to cast their nets on the
other side of the boat. Reluctantly, they did, only to be amazed, the nets
became full, and almost to bursting. The boats then were filled to overflowing,
and started to sink before they headed to shore. And Jesus’s only comment, soon
you will be fishers of men. Tired, excited, dazed and confused, these to be
disciples, would surely go on to do what He had said. But tonight, or this
morning they were tired, and had a catch to unload. Now you may ask, when Jesus
could multiply two fish into enough to feed the thousands, why couldn’t He just
fill the boats? Or command the fish to just swim 20 feet to the other side
where the nets were? Fish don’t argue. Wasn’t He God? Didn’t He love these
men, and didn’t He feel for their suffering? Yet He answered it the best way,
in love. Like all His answers, even though we like to advise Him on how and
what to do. When is always right now! You see we like to argue, or negotiate
with God. He showed them how to be better fisherman, and how obedience, and
depending on the Holy Spirit is their key to success. All from a carpenter.
And also to show them prophetically how Peter, this rough and tough fisherman
would catch/save 3000 souls on the day of Pentecost. Those words just had to
have special meaning to Peter that day! He had become a true fisher of
men!
Pride can be subtle, it can be harsh, or
dangerous. It can delay the making of a commercial, be dangerous in building a
race car, and even make it hard to find blenders. But don’t let it stand
between you and God and the blessings He has in store for you. If you can’t
read the cues, ask. If the problem gets worse, change direction. Doing the
same thing but expecting different results is crazy. And if you don’t know the
difference between green and avocado, go by the part number. Ask if you don’t
know! James says you don’t have because you don’t ask, or ask with wrong
intentions. So next time your nets are empty, you are tired, exhausted, broken,
and without hope, ask. Then listen. The answer will amaze you, and include
you. And also one very important person, Jesus. But it only works if you
follow His directions. The grass may appear to be greener another way, or on
the other side of the fence. And it usually is over the septic tank. There is
a reason for that. Knowing Jesus makes all the difference. Now which part of
all things don’t you understand? ACTION!
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com