Let’s get one thing perfectly clear right up front, I don’t work
on cars, motorcycles, or fix things around the house. Although I spent most of
my life in automotive, I never fixed anything, I advised or managed. Put a
wrench in my hand and it becomes a hammer, a screwdriver becomes a pry bar, and
a hammer becomes an implement of destruction. I have lost tips to fingers from
power tools, and cut more cords, and had more tools go up in smoke from abuse.
Just the thought of me attempting to fix anything sets off tirades of the seven
words you can’t say on radio, and you can be assured whatever the problem was,
it will cost twice as much and take twice as long to fix. My hands have no
relationship with my brain, the two seem at odds when it comes to tools, so I
learned long ago it is easier, cheaper, and less stressful to let someone else
do it right the first time. Which lands much credence to my motto of “I rather
be riding than wrenching.” A simple oil change at the last moment before a trip
almost led to not going. Forgetting to replace the drain plug before adding
oil, when the stores are closed, and no lights in your garage is not smart. And
finally fixing it by headlight not advised. There is a reason spark plugs have
washers-don’t remove them. I have over tightened nuts only to have them spin
free, under tightened only to have them fall off, and forced a standard thread
on a metric-damaged for good, just not mine. I have forced a 16” tube over an
18” rim, I have forced a single pole bulb into a double pole socket, and cut
things too short-missing by that much. I could probably walk you through an
engine rebuild, but run when I grab a wrench. I have used too much gasket glue,
dropped the last nut and never heard it hit the floor, and always have extra
parts left over after fixing anything, and when it was once joked that I should
call Ford and tell them how to save money by not using so many nuts and bolts, I
was stopped by it being pointed out it was a joke. Chains either stay too
loose, or are so tight they make the motorcycle pull. And never have me fix
anything by color-I am color blind and can put a blue plug into a red with
disastrous results. Knives are used to strip screws, hammers to adjust, and
vise grips to remove bolts after the heads are stripped off. So I adhere to the
old adage, “if you have someone to cook your food, cut your hair, or fix your
motorcycle, let them do it and don’t interfere.” So I don’t, leaving me to
question others like myself who are mired in frustration, “why do it right when
you can do it yourself?”
But when faced with the inevitable, I try to follow the
instructions. Like the time we needed a new garage door opener, my wife refused
to get out and open it in the rain. So off to Home Cheepo I go, but a good one,
and spend the next 2 hours doing a 45 minute job. And it still won’t work! So
after taking it apart for the 4th time, I note instead of having three
pieces-A-B-C, I have A-B-B. Even the packers are out to get me. So going back
I get the right one, and soon the garage door opens at the push of button, the
throwing of tools ceases, and I have escaped major injury. And my wife stays
dry when it rains, so maybe persistence can win out over lack of skills.
And only yesterday when the printer stopped printing, it only took 2 hours to fix a 5 minute remedy. I seems the instructions were serious when they included step 8, quitting after step 7 fixes nothing, but does add to the aggravation. And my other accomplishments include, gate won’t open, fixed-now it won’t close either. AC in car won’t work-fix window crank, now window opens. Car horn honks on hard right turns-disconnect horn. But it just isn’t me-I know guys who have put antifreeze in the washer bottle-almost impossible to get off of car and windshield. I had a tech once put 26 quarts of oil in an engine, and it seized. His last job was fixing it before he was fired. I have seen the good tires onteh right side of a car replaced, leaving the bald ones on the other right side unchanged. So maybe I am not an isolated instance....maybe I am like the joke, “how many does it take to change a light bulb?” “It depends on how much the light bulb wants to change.”
And only yesterday when the printer stopped printing, it only took 2 hours to fix a 5 minute remedy. I seems the instructions were serious when they included step 8, quitting after step 7 fixes nothing, but does add to the aggravation. And my other accomplishments include, gate won’t open, fixed-now it won’t close either. AC in car won’t work-fix window crank, now window opens. Car horn honks on hard right turns-disconnect horn. But it just isn’t me-I know guys who have put antifreeze in the washer bottle-almost impossible to get off of car and windshield. I had a tech once put 26 quarts of oil in an engine, and it seized. His last job was fixing it before he was fired. I have seen the good tires onteh right side of a car replaced, leaving the bald ones on the other right side unchanged. So maybe I am not an isolated instance....maybe I am like the joke, “how many does it take to change a light bulb?” “It depends on how much the light bulb wants to change.”
And so we are brought to those who consider themselves
religious. Who take Jesus, add some laws, regulations, and think they have
something better. We are currently studying Jesus+nothing=everything, and it is
true. We have it all in Christ, no need to be circumcised, no need for special
clothes, for making donation pledges, or for acting holy. We are told if we
follow the law, we need to be better than a Pharisee, we need to shine ahead of
him more than he does when following him by a 1000 feet. Too tiring for me.
Yet some approach god like I do tools, they find it is better to make it
impersonal, to let someone else get hurt. Developing their own sense of
religion. Some want to borrow tools, giving them back broken and unusable-and
they call that religion. But most, if not all, choose what fits their life,
changing the Bible to fit them, rather than changing to fit God’s plan. And
ending up worse, and not knowing why. They are the do-it-yourselfers,
reinventing the wheel and ending up with a flat tire. And flat lives, creating
their own gospel. Sadly the gospel we know best, and live most is the gospel of
us. And there is no room for Jesus and our ways. You cannot serve two masters,
and both suffer, so we have to make a choice. Serve or be served. Accept Jesus
as He is and we change for the better, or accept Jesus and stay the same,
blaming God for our mistakes. It is said you can’t fix stupid, and stupid
hurts, if you know that going in, why still do it? If life was so good, why
were you looking for help in it? Why change if your life is so perfect?
Because we will always have a hole there in our lives that only
Jesus can fill. Cars, money, jobs, houses, and Home Depot cannot fill the
need. It takes Jesus. It takes us being the wise man who built his house upon
the rock, so when the rains came he was safe. Too late to build after, then it
is called rebuild. So why do it yourself when you can have Jesus? So why do
we do it wrong when we do it ourself? Make today that last trip to Life Depot,
give it all to Jesus. Home, cars, jobs-He can fix them all. And show us how to
not redamage them again. The Bible, the repair manual for life, and you can know
the author personally, no signed copy, but His mark on your life for others to
see. And the evidence of how things change when you follow Him. Follow His
directions instead of your own...and end up where you need to be, rather than
where you wish you weren’t.
Why do it right when you can do it yourself? The choice is
yours. Like the ad says, “pay me now, or pay me later.” If you don’t have the
time to do it right the first time, why can you always find time to do it the
second? Or third? God provides the tools you need for life, the instructions,
and the way, the truth, and the life to follow. All found in one man. Jesus
plus nothing equals everything. How you spend your time is up to you. You can
either join the club of ______, turning riders into mechanics for 90 years, or
follow Jesus. I rather ride than wrench. Let’s compare stories sometime...I
have the scars to prove it. Now I have the trips.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot