Monday, October 30, 2006

Lessons From a Junk Yard!

CORE THOUGHT: Life is short! Don't waste it!


This past week I got my oil changed. (Oh, be sure to check the website for wherever you take your car for service…sometimes they have coupons!) Now, where was I? Oh, I was waiting on my car to be revived with new oil, so I decided to walk around the showroom looking at the 2007 models.


I was surprised to see a van, a Honda van, with a list price of just under $43,000! A Honda? For $43, 000??? Wowee! And oh the features…satellite navigation, DVD system, lots of cup holders. I did not covet it at all! For that price I could have purchased two Civic coupes like mine with several thousand left to spare. Anyway, today I was looking at cars again…but not in some spiffy showroom with pleasant music in the background and that intoxicating new-car-buy-me-right-now scent permeating the air…no, I was in a junk yard!


A friend was looking for tires and rims for a trailer, and I went along for the ride (an a meal, of course!). I don’t know if I have ever been in a real junk yard. I didn’t even know that the politically correct term is now “salvage yard.” I waited while my friend went on a safari with one of the employees to the back forty in search of steel and rubber. I noticed the cars…all starting out the same way…new…featured in slick, colorful brochures touting their many luxury features or payload capacities or their resale value.


Some had just worn out, but others had been devastated in accidents. Some were so twisted and contorted that I knew that someone had died in the mass of metal before me. That’s life, isn’t it? We’re only new and shiny for awhile, but before you know it, the gleam is gone; reality sets it, and BOOM, it’s over before you know it…No, it didn’t depress me; it just reminded me once again that life is passing by quickly, and we need to pay attention and live well.


I have learned that the best way to live life is to do it God’s way…not that I know perfectly what that is, but I do know that God is real, and that I can trust Him as he teaches me who He is, who I am, why I am here, and as he shows me just how valuable EVERYONE who crosses my path is…not just the people who look like me or think like me, but EVERYONE…Everyone is made in God’s image. He values each one, and so should we, and in my life, it is only through my relationship with Christ that my selfishness is held at bay daily.


No, I don’t know everything there is to know about Christ, my Father in heaven, or the Spirit who is God’s living presence here…but then again, I’m not through with the journey am I?...and neither are you! So how’s the scenery? Who have you met on your journey? What’s going to be the point when you reach your destination? As Helen Keller once said, “Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing.” If you’re going in circles, stop it! Life is too short! Don’t live life in a junk yard, you were made for the road, and it’s a great ride with the One who gave you your life to begin with!

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