TRUCK STOP — TRUCK START
How do you feel about borrowing other people's vehicles? Well, unless you're a teenager and the vehicle in question belongs to your parents, most likely the prospect makes you a wee bit nervous. After all, there's always the chance that something might happen while the vehicle is in your possession, right? Last weekend we borrowed a friend's truck for a few hours. What an experience! First of all, I had a hard time starting it. The truck was a standard, but I am used to driving standards, so that wasn't the problem. For some reason the truck just wouldn't turn over. I now believe that was a sign from God, but instead of walking in the Spirit, I was already running late!
With a bit of encouragement from it's owner , the truck rumbled to life. "No problem!", I thought to myself. Well, it didn't take too long for my confidence to be slightly shaken; as I shifted into second, the knob on the top of the gear shift came off in my hand. I found this a bit disconcerting to say the least! But, being the trooper that I am, I quickly regained my composure and pressed on. I figured now that I knew about the knob, I could make adjustments! I'm adaptable! Sure, I was surprised when I shifted gears and the knob came off in my hand. True, such surprise-shifting "clutched" at my soul, but hey, I'm tough. My senses kicked into overdrive and I decided that I would drive in the "now". With all the attention of a Jedi pilot in the heat of battle, I proceeded down the road. Well, that's when I looked up to check my rearview mirror. Whoops, it seems there wasn't one; only a glass gash where once dwelled a mirror. Ah, another bit of adrenaline dripped into my system. People pay money in amusement parks for this kind of a thrill, and I was getting it for free. Lucky me!
It really wouldn't have been so bad since it was a truck and it had two large door-mounted side-view mirrors. Thing was, neither were adjusted so that I could use them. We were already late, so I threw caution to the wind and decided that as long as I kept my eyes on what was ahead, I'd leave what was behind me to God's care.
A few minutes later, we got to our destination free from further mishap. Three sweaty hours passed and it was time to move on to our next appointment. Once again, the truck wouldn't turn over. I put the clutch to the floor, I turned the key over and over and over and over and over and over. Well, you get the idea. I put it in gear and in neutral. I crossed my eyes and stuck out my tongue and prayed to the Lord above, all to no avail. Sheila and I ended up walking to our next engagement. At that point, we knew that the owner of the truck would be home and we could switch back to our vehicle and help him get his. I imagine you can guess what happened next. The owner started it up with no problem! Pleased with himself and chuckling about that crazy preacher, off he went into sunset with shifting knob in hand. Ah, a man and his truck, who can know!
What's the point of my truck start, truck stop woes? Simply this: We can get used to a lot of things, can't we? To my friend, all the less than perfect aspects of his truck caused him nary a concern. He was so comfortable with the knob and the mirror and the finicky starter that he didn't even mention them to me before my maiden voyage.
It reminds me of a story that a preacher once told about an experiment they tried in one of their Sunday School rooms. It seems that they purposely left a mop and bucket complete with dirty water sitting in the adult Sunday School room. In the first week, the group noticed immediately and with lightning speed and red face, they put it away. The week after, when the same thing happened, after a few gripes and grumbles, someone got up and put it away. The following Sunday, Mr. Mop N. Pail was back, this time there were some grumbles, but the mop and pail were left for the guilty party, whomever that might be, to deal with. After a few more weeks of the "unusual presence", the people became blissfully unaware that the mop and pail were in the class. The lesson? What might offend us at first, we can learn to tolerate, then ignore. That's true whether we're talking about the knob on a stick-shift, or a mop in a Sunday School classroom, or sin in our world, in our church, in our lives.
In Ephesians 4:26, Paul says, "In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,"(NIV) Actually, the King James does a better job at translating the first verb in this verse when it says, "Be ye angry." The tense of the verb suggests that Paul is giving a command to be angry. Of course he qualifies the command by telling them not to sin in their anger. Why would Paul command Christians to be angry?
I think Paul is saying, "Look at the world through the eyes of God! Be angry at the sinfulness. Be angry at the suffering and injustice caused by sin. Be angry enough to do something about it!" Sin left unchecked leads to spiritual indifference, or is it that spiritual indifference leads to sin? Regardless, if nothing is done with the dirty water and the broken gear-shifts of our lives, we'll forget they're even there. That's dangerous, because forgotten, tolerated, excused sin is all that Satan needs to build a foothold. May I suggest that we do a bit of soul-searching this week to glue on some knobs and empty some pails? Ask God to give you a view of your life, and our world, through His Holy eyes! It might take a bit of work in order to adjust, but, oh, the joy of a freshly-scrubbed heart, Ah!
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." (Psalms 51:10-12)
If there are any comments or any stories to share, feel free to email me! Just click on my name at the bottom of this page.
