We all like to get a good deal, and when we do like to brag about it. And
it helps to have cash in hand when such deal is available. But I know this guy,
and others like him, that to them this good deal comes in boxes, and can only be
driven home on a trailer or in a pick up, rather than driven. He could look at
boxes of parts sitting in a garage and see a car, where all I could see was
wasted time when I could be riding. And eventually some of the projects got
close enough to be licensed, so they could be driven, but few ever saw farther
than the end of the driveway. And if they did, had to be pushed back. Over the
years he would have ‘55 Chevies, woodies, old Jeep station wagons, and Model
T’s. They were all bought on price, and a potential he could only see, which
usually was the price paid. Let’s see, “$450 for a 1956 F100, must be
assembled, all there.” And when going to see the truck, in numerous boxes,
frame leaning against the garage, at $50 per box he thought it a good deal, and
took it home. Later bragging how he bought an F100 for less than $500-which
never did get put together. But he could honestly say he had one, just like
other cars that were collectible. His inventory and list of cars were all
project cars, cars that once it took more than the change in his pocket to
complete, got set aside, leaving room for the next deal, and adding to his list
of collectible. He eventually would sell some, sometimes back to whom he bought
it from, sometimes a kid who had less money but bigger dreams than him. I
cannot ever remember any one project being driven, even his daily drivers didn’t
go much further than church, and his wife would always follow in her car, just
in case, so they cold tow him home. And she actually got quite good at
it.....
Now my old friend Brett, RIP, had a similar disease, except he bought new
cars and motorcycles, and then took them part to see how they worked. When he
got his new SR500, he was a Yamaha man, later died on his 750 Seca, I went
over,and finding his garage empty, thought he wasn’t home. But finding his door
open, I went in, and there he was at the kitchen counter with his new bike...the
frame in the corner, the engine in the sink, and he was fascinated by it. He
later put it back together, and we rode many miles, but within the first 100 or
so he just had to take it apart. And then began to fix all the things that the
factory had “cheaped out on,” and like my other friend’s cars, Brett’s bike was
an ongoing project, never complete in his eyes, but always ridable. And neither
one saw the humor in their actions quite like their friends did. Both just
couldn’t let well enough alone, one from an engineering perspective, the other
from a fiscal one. One was inquizative, the other cheap. One bought in volume,
the car came in boxes, and at a dollar per box thought he was getting a good
deal, the other bought new, and tried to improve on his purchase. Me, I rather
go riding. So I did much of he time, without either one.
But both men were not unlike many of us out there, looking for the best
deal. We want to pay the least for the most, then brag about the deal we got.
Yet when it comes affairs of life, get taken for a ride every time when they
could be riding. Somewhere in our culture the opposite effect has taken place,
the more I paid for something, the better it must be. And that is where they
are led astray. How many ads do you see on TV for recovery centers, costing
thousands of dollars per week, only rock stars and celebrities can afford them,
yet some will gamble their life savings, and their lives on them. How many have
you known in the past that the only thing lost was their savings and further
peace of mind when all was said, but not done? How many sought the end product,
but at the end were still in process, but for another session, and thousands of
dollars could be healed. Or stay on the path, or whatever, until the next
problem came along. Ending up like my friend Vince, who set out to reinvent the
wheel, and every time ends up with a flat tire. They are worse off than when
they began, their lives in shambles, or in pieces, stored in boxes that someday
they hope to put back together. They are always just the next fad, or ad away
from being cured, yet never quite get there. A true work in process, just not
in progress. A choice, yet it doesn’t have to be that way.
Talking with a young girl who was a friend of a nephew, she was in social
service, and out to change the world. She dealt with addicts, unwed, single
moms, and others on welfare. Education had brought her to the conclusion that
the state was the answer, when really it was the state that had kept many in
that state. She also found that high dollar, high profile centers helped too,
and told me of many who could afford the endless semesters they spent there.
But when she asked what I did, and how, I shared Jesus with her. Jesus of the
Bible, Jesus who died for our sins. Jesus who long before any social programs,
before government welfare, and high end treatment centers, was healing the sick,
reuniting families, feeding the poor, and giving hope to the hopeless. She had
facts and figures to back her up, I had scripture and testimony...she didn’t get
it. With her biggest problem being the cost, how could my plan, the gospel, be
so successful if it was free? My answer, in the form of a question, “why would
you pay for something when it is offered free,” got a confused look. All she
could see was statistics, facts and figures. I saw people, I saw Jesus. We
parted, both thinking the other was crazy, but I had Jesus. The best type of
crazy-the truth.
In hospital ministry, I hated to hear “well we tried everything else, maybe
praying will work.” After all else fails, try the one thing that works.
Somehow we don’t get it, we see the boxes of parts rather than the finished
ride. We buy in cheap, but never count the cost. We lean on our own
experiences, or bad advice, and then make excuses. Our engines stay in the
sink, trying to make better what the creator has already perfected. We try to
work out our own salvation, when Jesus haws already done it for us. We
struggle, then struggle some more. Our lives are in parts, or coming apart,
when we could be riding. One cost us nothing, Jesus paid it all, the other we
never can afford, and costs us everything.
Today a problem may have you on the shelf among the parts, how do I get it
together? Jesus is there, with the answer. The way out. He is the tow rope to
get you home, the missing part to make it run, and the instruction manual to see
where you went wrong. He is the creator, the factory rep, with parts available,
at prices you can afford. So call on Him today, tell Him your situation, then
sit back and watch this master tech of life take care of it. No help from you,
you may have been the cause all along, and watch as your life comes together.
When programs, procedures, and plans fail, He succeeds. He has a 100% success
rate, any and all who call on Him are saved, all He asks for is your broken
life, and in return makes it whole. Who could pass up a deal like that?
Yet many do, and have credit card receipts and cancelled checks to show for
it. With the boxes still on the shelf, not put together. In process may be the
testimony, but the completion is the better one. Some vote with their wallet,
some with their head, and some with the government. I voted with my heart, gave
it to Jesus, and got life. Abundant life, unlike any ad I ever saw. While some
are still putting it together, I am out living. I am the motorcycle that goes
by your house on the way to somewhere, while you sit going nowhere. Today you
can start the trip of life in Christ. Call on Him, make it real. If your parts
man knows you better than your pastor, it is time for a change. Long before we
started restoring cars, Jesus was restoring lives. Success is the completion of
a well executed plan. Jesus has that plan for you. Are you listening? Sorry I
can’t hear your answer, I’m riding. You can be too. I made my choice years
ago, what are you bragging about? The Yamaha in the sink, or the one on the
road?
love with compassion,
Mike
mathew25biker.blogspot.com