LESSON FROM THE OLD TRUCK

You have seen old trucks before.  Even I know that.

And, there is nothing special about this one.

This one is an old 1979 Dodge Power Wagon.  I

used it for many, many years.  But I wanted something

smaller and lighter so this thing was set aside.  Then

after buying a newer smaller truck I just gave it to a

neighbor up the road a ways.

He used it to go fishing a lot around the various

farm ponds in the area.  But the point I want to 

make is how he spent a lot of time telling me what

a great hot rod he was going to make out of it.  He

was going to take the cab off and change a dozen 

other things.  That was fine with me.  But I knew

my neighbor.  After sitting at his house for a long

time he talked someone into painting it with a 

spray can.  That is what you see in the image above.

And that was as "hot rod" as it ever got. Then it sat 

and sat and sat.

I finally saw it hauled off on a wrecker.  My guess

is he traded it for a six pack of beer.

The same old truck with a little make up on the out

side.

The lesson.  I see what seems to be a lot of professed

"Christians" who seem to have changed the outside

some, or give a real good talk.  But, in actions they

seem to have the same old insides, mind, thoughts,

 attitudes and desires.

If truly we will turn our selves over to God and allow

him to work in us, it will make that "hot rod" out of

us.  But just being "churchy" will not do it.

DIVINE RETRIBUTION ????????

DIVINE RETRIBUTION ????

I'll let you decide.

Do you see the blue tarp just over the trailer?

Yesterday morning that was a window - UNTIL -

A large semi-truck went through town.  It lost a 

wheel which rolled across the yard, bounced up

and went through the window busting up an 

interior wall.

When I took this photo someone was throwing 

stuff out the back door because of the damage.

You can see the pile starting to grow just outside

the door.

This is only an opinion.  But I do not think it 

possible for even the best truck driver in the 

world to time the loss of a wheel to make a 

hole in one like that.  So I'll rule out the 

possibility of malicious intent.

Why the possibility of Devine retribution?

The next photo shows the large sign in the 

front yard of this house.  (Possibly 4'X8')

Those of us who are interested in the things

of God and the prophecies that are being 

even now fulfilled question the declaration

on the sign.  

It is true that the word "RAPTURE" is not 

even in the Holy Bible.  BUT, the event is 

clearly described a number of times.

You decide.

HELP. I'M UGLY

That's my little old ugly truck.

I must admit, it does not have the words,

"RUST BUCKET" on the sides.

They are only in my computer.

That picture was taken several years ago.

Only the rain has washed it since and the 

rust has grown. A lot people would be ashamed 

to be seen in it because it is so ugly.

But, Hey!  

It is not a trophy.  It is a tool.

It still runs very good and does everything

I want a truck to do.  In short, I'm still

very happy with that ugly old truck and

have no desire what ever for a newer,

nicer truck.

What's the point?

As a person I think of myself as "ugly".

How many a time I have wished that God had

made me different than I am.  There are things

from top to bottom that I would change if it were

up to me.

I have been having a hard time to think that God 

made me the way I am because this is the way that

God wanted me.  (Well! Other than what I as a person

have messed up.  You know.  Over or under eating

or other things that are my fault.)  However, at my

age I am beginning to see the point.

Years ago there used to be a beautiful women come

into the shop with her car.  She was young and usually

when she came in, about half of the guys working 

there found some excuse or other to go by and 

see if they could "help" or what ever.

One day the boss ask me if I would that her to work

the next morning and bring her car back to the shop.

You bet I would.  (I was not in my eighties then.)

When she came early the next morning she happened

to have her kids with her.  And the way she treated her 

kids in the few miles to her work totally turned me off.

Since then, I have seen many a "lovely" lady that I

would not want to put up with as a wife.

One time God was having the prophet Samuel

pick out a king for the nation.  But Samuel was

looking on the outside and God said to him;

"But the Lord said to him,

'Pay no attention to how tall and

handsome he is.  I have rejected him,

because I do not judge as people judge. 

They look at the outward appearance,

but I look at the heart'".

(1 Samuel 16:7 GNT)

I notice something of interest to myself 

regarding the prophecy of God himself

coming down to us in the form of Jesus

Christ.

The prophecy of his coming says,

"He had no dignity or beauty

to make us take notice of him.

There was nothing attractive about

him,

nothing that would draw us to him.

We despised him and rejected him;

he endured suffering and pain.

No one would even look at him -

we ignored him as if he were nothing."

(Isaiah 53:2,3 GNT)

Lets face it.  

When our time has come, it is not a man or

woman that we will stand before in judgment.

It will be God himself.

He is not going to looking at our hair do 

or fake smile.  But at the our heart.

We can do something about our heart

or attitudes.

And it does help to realize that God had a
reason for making me the way I am,
even if it does not suit me.

RENEW YOUR STRENGTH

I want to share my experience with you hoping it can be
an encouragement to you.

I have what they call "Aplastic Anemia".   My body just plain
and simple quit making blood a little over a year ago.  God in
his mercy has allowed the medicines to help and my body
seems to be making some blood now.  But  I am still dependent
on frequent transfusions.

But it is "strength" that we want to consider right now.  I lost all
my strength with this sickness.  For a while I was so weak I could
not get out of my chair with out pulling on something or someone
helping me.  Of course any work was out of the question, period.

BUT -

God said,
"...they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,..."
-(Isaiah 40:31 RSV)

Some versions use the word "trust" instead of "wait".  Take your
choice.  And I would stress that I do not feel God gave me that as
a promise.  Simply, he said it.  And I tried to wait, trust, walk with
God looking for an increase in strength.

Strength was very slow in coming, if any at all.   So slow that I was
complaining to God about it.  But, a short time back I got more serious
with God over the issue.  You know, "God, where is this strength you
promised?"

Shortly after that inside of just a few days I felt like my old self.  Did
not feel sickly at all.  No I have not regained all my strength back - yet.

The image above is a garden bed I am working on.  You cannot see
how deep it is.  But what you see in it is old damp horse manure.  It
was loaded the other night and made my little old truck squat down
like a dog doing something on the lawn.  I had to drive home in only
the lower gears.   It was too heavy to get into one of the high gears.

The point I'm making.  Yesterday morning in about two hours I unloaded
that stuff, a shove full at a time, into that garden bed.  Yes, it pretty much
wore me out for the day.  But even two months ago I could not have
thought about doing that little bit.

It's God I'm thanking.    Have you lost your strength?  Turn to the one who
gives life and strength to start with.  Jesus Christ.  Get real close and know
him personally very well.  You will not be sorry.

GOD "FIXED" MY TRUCK

NO.

This is not the truck God "fixed" for me.

This is only a picture from my files of a pickup.

Back about 1980 I bought the first pickup I ever had

from a fellow mechanic.  It was one of those ugly

1961 chev. pickups.  It seems that chev. designed it

ugly on purpose.  Like some of today's cars.  They

did well.  It was ugly.  And if there are any left on

a scrap heap some where - they are still ugly.

I had borrowed the pickup from my friend a number

of times.  So it did not come with any hidden faults.

It's chief fault was that it would pop out of high 

gear once in a while.   This was one of those old

6 cylinder three speed manual transmissions.

But that was not supposed to be a problem.  I was

a mechanic, and overhauling manual transmissions 

was one of my jobs.

As you can guess, the problem did not get any better.

Over time it got to popping out of high gear real bad.

I counted one time.  In driving to work, that's, 12 miles,

it popped out of high gear 16 times.

I know, the logical thing to have done would be simply

buy a rebuilt transmission and slip in on a Saturday.

But at that time circumstances were such it could not

be afforded. 

The other option of course was to fix it myself.  The

problem there was down time.  Back then we could

get parts for automatic transmissions in a day or two.

But every time we had a car down with a manual 

transmission, it took a week or two to get parts.

This truck was my only transportation and I had

tried every adjustment I could think of.

One day returning home from work it popped out

of gear while going down a straight section of road.

I put it back in gear.  Let out the clutch and it popped

right back out again.

In frustration and desperation I cried out loud enough

He could hear me, "Lord, I don't know how much longer

I can put up with this."

The next morning on way to work the young fellow

riding into town with me ask, "Did you fix the

transmission?"  No.  Then he pointed out that it had

not popped out of gear at all.

I started watching it then.  It must have been about 

one and a half years before it ever popped out of high

gear again.

Talk about a cheap fix.  God is a whole lot better

mechanic than I am.

Ultimately I gave the old truck to the young man

that was riding with me that morning.

PRAISE GOD FOR ANSWERED PRAYER.

ALL THINGS???????????

We Christians like to declare that all things

work together for good to those who love God.

Makes you wonder sometimes.

But let me tell you about the day the 

above image was taken.

My habit  is to very early in the morning ask

for God's protection for the day, and his blessing

on the day.  I "try" to put the day in his hands

and let him worry about it.  [I know.  Sometimes

I try to help him.]

The above day started for me like several each 

week - at the oncology center.  It started well.

They sent me over to the hospital for blood.

That happens a lot.  About once a week I go

get more blood and/or platelets.  It's a routine

with me.

On entering the hospital I noticed that the 

regular people who do the admitting were not

there.  But one of the regular women who 

come out of the back office was.  So she helped

me.  Well, she had to get some help to help

her so she could help me. 

The next step is "usually" being taken to a 

hospital room.  But this time, she took me 

around the corner to a division or section I 

had never been in.  ??? and double ???

It was for out patient heart patients.  I am

not a heart patient.  I am there because of

"Aplastic anemia" as an out patient.

Next comes a nurse.  So far that happens 

everywhere.  And the way she was going 

to do the infusion was different than my  doctor

had instructed.  I know.  I had careful read the

instructions before handing them in at the front

desk.  Now I liked the nurse's method better. But

I am not normal.  Transfusions can give me reactions

that create real problems.  So I have learned to 

watch pre-medications and infusion rates very

carefully.  The nurse and I "sorta" went round 

and round on infusion rates.  But as mentioned,

I liked her method better and we followed her

"protocol" instead.

Now this division does not stay open 24/7.

So when they had gone as far as they could

they sent me to the 5th floor.  First time I have

ever been there.  The reason is simple.  They

do not work with "out patients" like me.  They

only care for full time patients.  But the people

were great.  They did a great job anyway.

Except as we are winding up, they wanted to

wait 30 minutes and do an "H and H".  No 

way.  How did that get in there?  It ends up that

that instruction came out of "ER" several months

ago when the reaction problems began.  Now

we have been following a different set of instructions

with a "protocol" that is similar to the one from

the department that sent me there.

After this comedy of errors that had me frustrated,

until I could hand it back over to God - what was

the outcome?

I was able to go home between 4 and 8 hours

EARLIER 

than my normal routine.

INSN'T GOD GOOD. 

But we are not done.

For quite a while now I have known that the

alternator on my old truck was getting very 

weak.  And leaving the hospital the lights in

the dash told me it had gone it's last mile.

God got me home safely and all at a time that

there were several extra vehicles I could use 

to go into towns to get parts.

GOD IS STILL GOOD. c

"And we know that all things work together

for good to those who love God, to those

who are the called according to His purpose."

(Romans 8:28 NKJV)