I always knew him as Lew, and either he or his wife would drop off their
SL500. But when it needed brakes, I called the number he left, and his wife
answered. “Can I speak to Lew please?” “He’s in surgery Mike, can I take a
message?” “Is he OK, he looked fine this morning...” and she started to laugh.
“Mike, he’s a neurosurgeon...” and from then on we all laughed about it. At
least they did. Ted was a Hollywood producer, which I didn’t know. He was
funny and very demure personality, so when he complained about a shake at 140
mph in his C43, I was a bit surprised. After being warned it was my ticket if I
got stopped, and I didn’t have to test it at that speed, I found a road and a
time to test it. Sure enough, it had a faint wobble at 140, felt like the tires
were a bit worn. So going back, I called him, and let him know I confirmed his
complaint. “You need new tires to drive fast,” and he replied “are you crazy
Mike? Sandra would kill me if I ever drove that fast. I just read an article
about that, and wondered if it were true.” We never told Sandra.
But the funniest was one afternoon when the deep bass tones echoed in our
driveway. I had dealt with drug dealers, rock stars, and we had found some
interesting contraband in some cars. But looking up I saw it was a Maybach, a
short run on the ultimate Mercedes Benz, that started at $375,000 big ones. It
was filled with teenagers, who I identified, I knew them. Their dad was a very
wealthy TV station owner, supposedly owned over 50 of them in the US and Mexico,
I had serviced all his other cars, he gave one to each of his long time
employees. But here his kids were dropping of his Maybach for service, windows
down, music cranked, and removing all the soda cans and chip bags before leaving
the car. Not at all what I had expected....I guess maybe the rich are
different!
Another phone call got me wondering my morning. “Mike I just was passed by
my car on the I-5 going over 100 mph.” I looked over, and saw his car in the
bay, hood up, and asked him “were you sure it was your car?” Yes he was sure,
he saw the hat number blow off ahead of him, the ones we put on the roof to
identify them, and stopped to pick it up. “I’m sure, do you want your hat
back?” And finally Dr. Crick, he who discovered DNA, was a customer. Picking
up his car one was evening with his wife, I proceeded to tell him we replaced
the brakes, and did the required service, everything was OK. “Oh Mike, tell my
wife, I don’t understand such things.” And I’m thinking “Dude, you discovered
DNA and you didn’t know the light meant you needed brakes. Mrs. Crick smiled,
as if she had read my mind. Déjà vu all over again for her.....
So with each customer a certain level of service must be provided. Same
complaint, but a unique answer being the solution. We used to joke “we fix
people, not just their cars,” proving humor to be the purest form of the truth.
So to whom do you go when your car breaks? Do you have someone you can trust,
who listens to your complaints? Jesus in one meeting with his disciples, when
Peter asked him “if you are not here, to whom shall we go?” We may have someone
who cuts our hair, who fixes our food, and takes care of our vehicles, and we
trust them, but who do you trust with spiritual matters? Do you trust Jesus as
you say you do? Being a Christian can be difficult, you get strange answers to
prayer, you can be seemingly difficult to live with, and sometimes the answers
to prayers can be scary and misunderstood. But Peter knew, as we should, that
despite all these things, there was no one else, no other way to go to whom he
could trust. Only Jesus. The disciples had never met anyone who could take
care of them like he did, who knew their deepest needs, their greatest fears,
who saw their sins and yet forgave them and loved them. His customer service
was unsurpassed, he knew the problem, the cause, and the solution. Now do you
want the problem fixed or not? It is then up to us. But it went deeper than
the words he spoke that made them trust him, it was an intimacy unknown to them
before. Something that keeps us coming back, again and again.
But it was also the character of Jesus, whom they could depend on. They
had believed and come to know him. They saw the sinless one being tested and
approved, standing firm in love, with a devotion to them. Although they may not
have understood, they could not leave him. They never quit, which I find in
very few professing believers today. True Christians don’t quit, they don’t
give up, but give into the holy spirit. They listen and act, sometimes warily,
but the longer you do, the more you trust. The disciples had seen and heard
enough already, where else could they turn? Where else would they find the
resources needed for daily life, to meet their needs, to take them to heaven?
Peter would deny Jesus three times to a little girl, but he never rejected him
or who he was. Can we say the same? Do we weep bitterly like Peter does when
we see our sin and turn back to him whom we have denied? Just not obeying is
sin....of course you knew that already.
Customer service, or bedside manner can sometimes be the solution. How you
react to sin will tell us about your Jesus, and more about you than the words
you share when telling everyone how great your God is. How many times did I
have a customer tell me they hated their car, yet when after I fixed it they
loved it again. Best car they ever had. Frustrated, they thought abandonment
was the answer. How many abandon Jesus when the times are tough, blaming him?
Thinking it was he who didn’t understand and was busy elsewhere? And staying
miserable. Jesus fixes people, he is the solution, but first you must realize
you are the problem. Oops....how dare you? No how dare you?
So who ya gonna call? Who do you spend time with daily, thinking of him?
Listening to him as the spirit dwells within you? Do you recognize his presence
or do you have to be hauled before the elders, who are only men, and poor judges
of you and your situation? Peter’s answer was simple when Jesus asked “to whom
will you turn?” Simply put, he answered “you are the Christ, the son of God.
We know you are the holy one in which we believe.” Life can be tough, the
answers simple. He won’t pass you by at 100, he may not drive the classiest
car, and have the title of respect he should. But to those of us who know him
personally, he calls us friend. We know him as Lord and Savior, yet we call him
by name, Jesus. And he just smiles in the background, déjà vu all over
again...
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com