Wednesday, March 9, 2016

lessons from the back row of life














Shopping for a new car?  Or just another car?  Ponder that, for your decision will make all the difference in where and how you shop.  First the ads on TV get you hooked, and going out to the garage, suddenly your old car, no matter how old, looks just that-old.  And so you begin to look via the internet, Sunday car ads soon dominate your reading schedule, and you start by cruising car lots.  Then you drive in one, just to look.  A salesman approaches, and you reply “just looking,” because you are.  But really you are a buyer, you just don’t know it yet.  But you look, maybe sit in a few, then look at the window sticker.  “Hey, I bought my first house for less than that 35 years ago...” and reality begins to set in.  Getting back into your old car, you leave disenchanted, OK bummed, for what you desire, and what you can afford are two different things.  That new car sure looks good, I can swing the payments OK, but doubt has set in.  With every pot hole, every squeak, and every crack in the dash, your old car gets older, and suddenly it isn’t about price anymore, I need a new car!  Or at least a different one.
So summoning up all your car buying skills, you approach the lot on a sunny day.  Sales banners telling you “today is the time to buy!” and you want to, but still the bill seems to high.  So you ask “what do you have used?” and are taken to the back row.  Older cars, used and maybe abused, but still functional within certain limits, and these are what you can afford.  Cars that when they were new you wanted, but couldn’t afford then, just as the new ones are beyond your reach now.  You take a couple for a ride, the salesman thinks he has a sale, but keeps pushing you to a new car.  “You deserve a new car, then all the miles you put on it are yours.  Think how it will impress your neighbors,” and it would.  But they don’t make the payments, and suddenly a paid off old car has renewed value.  But one last trip through the back row, and the one you saw, sat in, and drove, the one you couldn’t afford then, but can now, seems right.  After looking at other cars, you keep going back to it.  And suddenly you gotta have that car.  It isn’t about impressing the neighbors, or affording the payment.  It is about the right car, and this one is it.  Found on the back row with the other rejects, too many miles, too many years, or too many whatevers, something about this car says it is the right one.  They take your trade, you sign the papers, and arriving home, no one understands your purchase. 
“I thought you were buying a new car?” and you try to explain this is new to you.  But they don’t get it.  They look at your neighbors new ride, and think you are crazy.  And maybe you are, but you found what you were really looking for in the back row.  Away from the glitz and glamour, away from the new models, and almost hidden, something was calling out to you.  And you are happy, you got what you wanted, just not what you thought you wanted or were looking for.  And no one can understand why you bought it, or why you enjoy it.  But you aren’t trying to please them, this is personal.  And you made the right choice.
We are all looking for that something in life that seems to be missing.  Success in a career, so we can buy the cars we dream of, a house that anyone would be proud to own, and the perfect vacation.  Some do, but with a cost they find they may not be able to afford.  New car payments go on after the car isn’t new anymore.  The house needs work, and the big house you thought you needed is so expensive to cool and heat, you don’t enjoy it.  The perfect job, based on income level, now has drained you, and when younger, less talented men get promoted and you don’t, you become bitter.  All the things you thought were important, the measures of success you lived for, are leaving you empty.  And you may not know it, but your life has moved from the shiny life in the front row, to the back row, with others used up and tired.  Something is missing, and you cannot figure it out.  Where did you go wrong?  What is that something you are missing?  The answer is that something is really a someone, Jesus Christ.  Who resides in the back row, not bringing attention to himself, but draws you to him.  The spirit telling you how much you need Jesus, but allowing you to shop first, to drive a newer model, but not satisfying you with it.  The spirit reveals the intangibles we seek, and makes them available to us in Christ.  And when we come to him, we get the satisfaction, the joy of a relationship with God. Personally.  And God is not impressed with us, but loves us as we are. He just doesn’t want to leave us like that, and as the wear and tear of a new car shows, he takes the car you were in the back row of life, and turns you into something beautiful.  Where there are no words to describe it, you have to experience it.  It’s your decision, and no one is forcing you. 
Now driving a new car doesn’t mean you are lost, just as driving an old means you are saved.  It is in the attitude and person of Jesus where our decisions make the difference.  He wants to bless us, and often we don’t know what we want.  God does.  And provides it in ways that seem weird to the outsiders, and may be humbling to us.   But when Jesus comes into our life, we change, we see things differently, and where someone sees and old care with high miles and faded paint, you see the potential.  A good detailing that will clean it up, a tune up, and soon you find you made the right choice.  The best choice, and the only choice. And it was there all the time, you just chose to look elsewhere.  Following Christ will do that to you, suddenly you find self value, you realize you don’t have to impress anyone to be accepted, because Jesus just loves you.  And as you grow, your outside reflects the inner heart of you, and that inner heart reflects Jesus.  Your desires will always be there and usually placed above your needs.  Get over it, but when you find Jesus, he gives you  the desires of your heart, and when he is the desire, the blessings flow freely.  Your worn out exterior has a new healthy glow to it.  You are walking in Christ, free in the spirit.  And life is worth the living, now that your priorities are right.  Your back row find is what you really needed.  You just never realized your life was there too.
Jesus meets us where we are. Go for the real deal, the only deal that may not make any sense, but makes all the sense.  Turn to Jesus, he specializes in taking back row people and turning them into front row lives.  He goes beyond the façade of success, and gives us peace.  Money can buy a fine dog, but only love will make it wag its tail.  Jesus is the love we need, to make our tails wag.  Instead of our tongues.  And at prices you can afford.  Speed, comfort, luxury, and a retirement plan better than any 401k.  Just waiting for you in the back row.  The last place you thought to look, the first place you know now to head to.  Years after your new car is old, Jesus will still be fresh and new.  Something the ads don’t tell you, you need to find out for yourself.  A lesson from the back row of life, that belongs in the front row of your heart.  And no one will understand why, they just have to find out for themselves. 
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com