Contrary to popular belief, and repeated incorrect teaching of history,
Henry Ford did not invent the assembly line. He got the idea from watching how
packing houses function by moving the carcass from one station to another on
carts. He only adopted it for his Model T. But it takes more than an assembly
line to increase production speeds, it takes interchangeable parts, which the
gun industry had been using for years. We take it for granted today that when
we get a part for our bikes it will fit, just over 100 years ago that would have
been considered lucky to find a part that fit, good or bad depending on your
situation. So many manufacturers made their own parts, from fasteners to
precision engine parts, and no two would interchange. The corner blacksmith,
would duplicate what he could, or take a part and customize it to fit the job,
but the days of going to the shelf for the right part has only been for 100
years. What Henry brought was putting them all together to make them work, and
reducing the time it took to build a car from 12 hours to 90 minutes. Passing
on the labor savings to the public and soon the industry followed, it had
to.
Now Old Henry is often misquoted as saying “you can have any color as long
as it is black.” Which he never said. They didn’t have the paint technology we
do today, and black was the easiest to make and apply. Usually by brush, and it
took forever in manufacturing years to dry. Credit Charles Kettering, Boss Ket
with working with DuPont to give us Duco paint and today we have instant drying
paints of infinite color possibilities. 100 years ago you got black...or green,
blue, brown, and varying shades of gray. Did I mean today by mistake? Has all
this prosperity and technology brought us back to the color charts of the
1920’s?
But still it took a plant, an organized schedule of procedures to make a
car. Still does today, and we neglect, if we ever knew or cared, to credit the
ones who built the factories. Who designed the assembly line where a car starts
as raw materials at one end and drives off the line at another. It takes timing
on the lines, a timely source of materials, and a trained work force for it all
to come together. And when it does it is a beautiful thing. Way back in 4th
grade Billy Dotterer’s dad was head of the Ford plant in Metuchen that built
Mustangs. New 1965 Mustangs, and a class trip to end all class trips. Noisy,
loud, with a lot of activity,and lots of new Mustangs, it was different from
the River Rouge tour we took in 2010, watching F150’s being built. Same
processes as the Model T and the Mustang, just refined. And painting down to a
science, where the truck body with doors was assembled, then painted and taken
apart to build the truck, assuring uniform paint cover and color.
Another manufacturing facility I used to visit was a huge SONY plant in
Mexico. It produced over 17,000 big screens a day! Very tedious work, but good
pay for those who could get it. As modern as it could be, especially compared
to a factory making eyeglasses from resin, with no safety procedures in place.
The floor so slippery you skated across it, the resin so dangerous it made your
skin red. When asked how did the workers do it, I was told after a few minutes
you would know if you could do the work. If you had any skin or lungs left.
But the most dangerous was the storage of the resins, which were very volatile,
and above a certain temp would explode like bombs. They were refrigerated the
way they had been for generations, stored outside in the heat, sometimes over
100 degrees, with an old man pulling a wagon the length of the yard, putting a
cake of dry ice on each barrel, then turning around and repeating the process.
I saw first hand why we need an OSHA, and why third world countries can compete,
the worker is expendable. Part of a process.....and finally the American worker
was expendable, they could do it cheaper elsewhere. Not necessarily better,
cheaper.
Many religions will offer you good advice, offer you security, and draw you
into their teachings based on some common sense facts. But they are without
completion, as all lies are based on facts, and like the assembly line may turn
out a product, but is it one you want? Or need? Or can afford? Today with
counterfeit products invading the US of A from around the world, they may look
the same, cost substantially less, and even do the job for awhile, but they are
short lived. Made to a cost, and we pay the cost. They look the same, but are
they the same? No one supplies a better replacement part than the factory that
designed and built it. After market tries, and some products are very good, but
nothing fits like a factory part. From the originator, the creator.
Today religion offers you many ways to seek peace. To be successful. To
satisfy. Many so called great men have influenced religion over the years, from
Buddha, Gandhi, Mohammed, Mary Baker Eddy, and Joseph Smith. All took some form
of truth and made a belief system, a religion out of it, but they all fail in
one important area, none can save. None can offer resurrection, no one offers
the free gift of salvation but Jesus Christ. There may be some moral lessons in
each other one, but only the truth is found in Jesus. God got it right in the
beginning, as Jesus was there, and still is there today. And will be in the
future. His grave is empty, all the others are filled with remains, for they
remained, not trusting Jesus to save them. Maybe Jesus and this belief, maybe
Jesus and work hard, maybe Jesus and remain poor, but no one but Jesus can offer
salvation, and it is a gift.
Which may make some Christians sound like bigots, it’s Jesus or nothing.
And they are right, but need to show it in love. Cults can provide love for
awhile, they cannot save. And if the church rejects someone, they are there to
rescue them from religion, with more religion. These others could tell us how
to live, only Christ will enable you to do it. No one else has dealt with the
problem of death and been successful, it takes an eternal God and his son to
save. God made Jesus the cornerstone, and there is no other name by which we
can be saved. None. That is the gospel, good news, we can be saved by
confessing Jesus. No grading on a curve, no classes, membership, tithing, or
serving. It is free...a gift from the creator, who made you, and can supply you
with all you ever need. Factory parts that fit. If only working on cars was so
easy...
Not even all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could put old Humpty
together again, yet we go there first. Why not go directly to God, and get the
right part the first time? The best advice from the wonderful counselor? The
peace we need from the comforter? And wisdom from the one who is wisdom....can
we maybe learn a lesson from the manufacturing world about Christ? That there
is no substitute for doing it right the first time? Interchangeable parts may
decrease assembly times, interchangeable gods and beliefs have an adverse effect
on life.
An old saying says “don’t force it, get a bigger hammer.” Or “don’t bend
it, get a bigger pry bar.” In both cases forcing an issue, not doing it right.
True you might get the part out, but at what cost? Why break something to fix
something else? Sound like life? Insist of factory parts, from the creator of
the universe. He made you, why refer to anything or anyone else. And he even
left you an owner’s manual, the Bible, and his spirit to guide you through it.
And he makes it easy to read, ever try to assemble anything from a picture? And
you thought all pictures were in English...
Just some things you might have been told incorrectly about. Don’t carry
on the tradition, get right with Jesus today. The madness of life can stop
today by trusting him, only one can show us what to do, how to do it, when to do
it, give us a new desire and the ability to do it, and give us a new heart and a
new outlook on life. Only one name can do all that, Jesus Christ. That is what
he does, has he done it for you? Will you let him?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com