I was greeted one morning by Ivan Stewart from underneath a truck he was
building. “Hey Mike, hand me a wrench,” he called to me. “What size?” “I
don’t care, I’m gonna use it for a hammer,” came the reply. And although we
laugh, how many of us use tools for other than their designed purpose? How
many long screwdrivers have been used to stir paint, as pry bars, or back
scratchers? Why do we joke of a hammer being a fine tuning device, yet I know
metalmen with diverse hammers who use them just for that purpose. How many of
us have rounded off the heads of perfectly squared bolts using vice grips when
we didn’t have the right wrench? Ask any Japanese bike owner form the sixties
or seventies about the pain inflicted from using the impact hammer, and when not
hitting it and whacking your hand finally take your bike to the shop? How many
Phillips head screws did you round the cross point to a fine circle using the
wrong sized tip? Recently I found out why, the Japanese use a JIS size tip, and
like Goldilocks invasion looking for perfection, American sizes are either too
small or too large, ruining the screw. How many among you knew that or even on
a JIS screwdriver? Maybe there is the right tool for the right job, even for
guys like me. It is called a mechanic.
Did you ever jack up a car only to have the floor pan buckle, not knowing
there are jacking points on the body? And blame the stupid jack? If you own
man cars or motorcycles, how reassuring is it to know that when it won’t crank
or start, that when checking the electrolyte, you know now for sure it is the
battery? And how many knew the end of the British motorcycle industry was at
hand when they converted from Whitworth bolts to standard? Relegating your
whole set of Snap Ons to the dust bin as you went to Honda? And found the
factory supplied tool kit with the assemble as needed screwdrivers better? It
seems that whenever a problem occurs, and the right tool is not available, good
old American ingenuity will find a better way, or at least a way.
Riding through Boulder Canyon one afternoon, we came upon an old BSA
leaning against the canyon wall. We stopped and the owner’s smile grew, we were
on a BMW who was known for its tool kits, along with tire irons and patch kit
and pump, even a rag to wipe your hands after. But one look at the vice grips
welded to the shift shaft told me BMW didn’t make enough tools to fix his ride.
Nor did I care to watch him butcher some of the Fatherland’s best tools. Which
always made me wonder, if they made the best bike in the world, why did it come
with the best tool kit? And why today when bikes are infinitely better, do some
not come with any tool kit? But from using bailing wire as a master link, I was
amazed at how well it held, to using the same wire for a throttle cable, I
wonder, why do the companies spend all the time and money developing these tools
along with special ones, when alternatives are available? Maybe the old saying
“you can loosen/tighten a screw with a quarter, but you cannot make a phone call
with a screwdriver.” If you are under 30 you may be too young to
understand....but somehow it all makes sense. Until you break down along the
side of the road.
The TV show Mac Gyver has brought out the creativity in man, and shown when
under pressure and without tools or resources, how his brain can function as a
tool and make one for the purpose at hand. I know very few professional techs,
or even home botch it yourself mechanics who don’t have a few home made tools.
I have a set of fondue stickers that are good for removing items I drop in
between engine fins. An adjustable magnet to retrieve them when they are again
visible. I have had many perfectly good ice picks made over the years from
sharpening the points on screwdrivers. What home shop is complete without a set
of drill bits that can drill square holes? Did you know you can stop a leaking
radiator by dumping pepper into it? How many butter knives have served as flat
blade screwdrivers for home repairs? Turkey baster for adding oil? Or heating
up a cylinder head to remove a stuck bolt after wearing the head of it off in
your wife’s oven? It seems there is no end to problem solving, when it stands
between you and a ride. Thinking outside the box, being creative, just like the
BSA owner, all you need is faith.
Now faith is an interesting concept. We all have been given the same
amount of faith, yet some seem to have more than others. Some can see the need
and meet it, while others are mired in prayer waiting to hear from God for the
answer. But it occurs to me where faith is in short supply, so is life, limited
faith equals limited lives. Some Christians see the glass as half full, some
half empty, while an engineer sees it as a poor design. But how many will go
fill the glass when empty and drink from it when full? Rather they contemplate
rather than act, and their faith is revealed. Delaying rather than waiting,
those who have faith move on. And such was the case in Nazareth in Jesus’s
day. To many there he was just Joe’s kid the carpenter. He might have built
them furniture. lent them tools, or even gone on an emergency run. How could
this carpenter know so much about the scriptures? And from times when he didn’t
perform like the genie in the lamp for them, and he was run out of town, to a
later return with such wisdom, many questioned “how can any good come from
Nazareth?” They only saw their own failures, they never saw Jesus. And so no
record of miracles are found coming from Nazareth. They tried using Jesus for
the wrong purpose, and without faith ended up with broken tools. Yet some tools
are clean and never used, like faith....
When we try to explain the spiritual in physical terms we will fail every
time. The spiritual tools of faith and hope and love come only form Jesus, and
must be used accordingly. Not for personal gain, or to harm, but to fix and
heal. To aid in solving a problem, yet many spiritual tool kits have the tools
but are still new and shiny, never used because of lack of faith. Under
legalism they let the family starve rather than fed them with tithe money. They
break commandments by being used by religion, giving to the church, as opposed
to God. And not knowing the difference. Ye it is using our little faith that
builds trust, and we see things through God’s eyes and the results are much
different. Each one of us has been given a special tool upon salvation, the
holy spirit. And it is only when we are led by the spirit does the tool become
useful. And his call to us is that we can be enriched beyond our wildest dreams,
seeing his full grace in action by trusting him, by exercising the gift of
faith. Which is in your tool box if you take time to look.
So maybe a hammer can adjust, a screwdriver mix, or a quarter serve as a
screwdriver. A butter knife can both spread butter or turn a screw. But only
Jesus saves, and only by his grace. No tool can substitute for his purpose,
God’s purpose which is to see us reunited with him and forgiven. The cross was
the tool he chose that day, and today he asks you to pick up yours and follow
him. The work is done, faith is installed, now go use it. By the way, the type
of carpentry Jesus was known for was yolk building, a fine art. Where it had to
be a custom fit, so the lead ox could lead and the other follow. Take the yoke
of Christ today, let him lead, and see the special tool of faith revealed in
you. Let the trust he has in you be revealed, and if asked for a hammer, know
which one. There are power tools, and some tools have great power. And now you
know why some gravy tastes like Castrol.....and why they make both metric and
standard Crescent wrenches...
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com