Go Beyond

I saw an interesting thing while stopped at a red light. I could not help but notice the fellow in the lane beside me. He was a big guy sitting on a big motorcycle — a big and very loud motorcycle.

While the light was red and traffic in other lanes was speeding by, the motorcycle man calmly leaned back to make some sort of adjustment to his rear wheel with a pair of pliers!

What?

Every few seconds he would glance forward to check the status of the light while trying to tighten or loosen or adjust or readjust whatever it was that was locked between the jaws of his pliers. I watched with great interest. When the light turned green the big dude sped on to his destination on his noisy steed.

Now, I don’t know much about motorcycles. In fact, I don’t know anything about motorcycles. But I do have a healthy measure of common sense — which makes me wonder why a fellow riding something with only two wheels would make adjustments to one of those wheels at a stop light.

I could not help but wonder if Mr. Goodpliers continued his repair work at the next traffic light, or if he even made it to the next light.

The more I thought about the motorcycle man, the less uncommon and unusual the whole thing seemed. In reality, there are lots of people who are just like him —

• people whose lives are in need of adjustments but who are too busy to stop and properly make repairs.

• people who insist on trying to fix problems on the run.

• people who will not stop to make minor tweaks and corrections.

• people who feel that as long as the wheels keep turning and the motor makes noise then everything has to be ok.

• people who feel no urgency about pulling off the road to make repairs until a wheel falls off and they come crashing to a horrible halt. And then it takes more than a pair of pliers and thirty-seconds at a stop light to fix things. In some cases all the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot put the pieces back together again.

Yes, there are many people who are just like the motorcycle man —

• people whose marriages are not running right but who will not take the time to stop for repairs. Instead, they run their troubled marriages at full throttle hoping to make it to the next light.

• well-meaning folks whose parenting is not running properly and are struggling with kids whose obedience is seriously out of alignment.

• parents and kids who are too busy to stop to talk about their problems.

Just plain good-intentioned folks who try to make repairs on the run or who have convinced themselves things are not really that bad. Until the wheels fall off. And then fingers point, tempers flare, voices are raised, accusations are made, feelings are hurt, and damage is done.

What’s in need of repair in your life?

Don’t wait until your wheels start to vibrate to get serious about repairs. And don’t try to make repairs all by yourself. Sometimes you need to spend some bucks to go see a mechanic.

And always remember that God is willing to roll up His divine sleeves to help you. If things are not running properly and you hear the annoying rattles that signal bigger problems, then pull off the road and into God’s garage before you end up in the junk-yard. He can do amazing things with a pair of pliers!