Sorry this week’s Pastor’s Page is late, but the reason for it is nuts!
Tuesday morning (the day I usually write my weekly article) started fine, right on schedule. Dropped my grandson off at school, pulled in the parking lot at the church, put the car in park, and shut off the ignition.
Well, I tried to.
My Jeep has one of those nifty push-button start features. Simply pushing the button activates the electrical system (“ACC” it says on the button). Foot on the brake and pushing the button starts the car (“RUN”). To shut the car off, put in Park and push the button once. Everything shuts down. It’s supposed to, anyway.
On Tuesday morning, I pushed the button to turn the car off, but it jumped instead to “ACC”—the engine stopped, but all the electrical stuff was still on. Furthermore, the “P” on the shift console was flashing and an ominous message appeared on the dash: “Service Transmission” it said, and the little engine icon appeared as well.
“Hmmm,” my genius mind mused, “that’s not good!”
I pushed the shift harder. Nope.
Started the car again, backed up, put in “D,” pulled forward, pushed the Start button once again. Same thing. “ACC”… “Service Transmission”…flashing “P.”
“Now what do I do?”
Really aren’t many options, are there? The car definitely was in park, even though the message center said it wasn’t and told me to put on the emergency brake. So, in theory, I could leave the car, get in the study, and write my article.
But all the electrical stuff is still on. Meaning, the stuff was slowly sucking the life out of the battery.
I had an errand to run downtown that I’d planned to do at lunch time, but thought maybe—just maybe—if I drove around a little bit the problem would self-correct, like rebooting a computer. Off I went, but “Service Transmission” and the yellow engine icon would not go away!
Errand completed with no evident change, I concluded the only option was to drive straight to the dealer and let them figure it out.
Looked at the mileage: 35,572. “Whew! Still under warranty!”
Pulled in the service department and shut the car off, with the same results.
I shared the story with the service writer who promptly furrowed her brow, looked at the car, and mumbled, “Hmmm….that’s strange.”
Really?
At first, she wasn’t quite sure what to do. I didn’t have an appointment, obviously, and they were pretty busy. Then I reminded her that, for as long as the car sits, the battery is being drained.
“Yes, ok…” she said. Then called out to the service department manager and explained the problem/dilemma. Could he get this into someone right away?
Fortunately, he could.
Sitting in the waiting area, I went back and forth between wondering what in the world would cause something like this, to reading email on my phone, to watching inane comic videos on the room’s TV screen.
One of the salesmen who attends our church popped in to say hello, wondering what brought me in. I explained the problem, which puzzled him, too. But then asked, “I don’t want to insult your intelligence in the least bit, but….um….are you sure you put it in park?”
Well, that is a good question, but indeed I had…many times.
“Ok, yeah…that’s weird,” he commented encouragingly.
After an hour slipped by, finally, the service-writer lady came out and had a wry smile on her face.
In her hand, between her thumb and index finger, she held a nut—little more than an inch wide.
“Here’s your problem,” she reported. “Apparently a squirrel wanted to get cozy and lodged this between the frame and the cable attached to the gear shift. The cable couldn’t get tight enough, so it sent a message to the car’s computer that it wasn’t in park!”
Are you kidding? A little nut from a chilly squirrel caused all of this?
- Messed up my morning.
- Delayed my writing.
- Wasted valuable time.
- Forced the service department to scramble.
It didn’t cost me anything—well, dollar-wise—but still!
Little things can cause big problems!
And that sparked a couple of thoughts from my memory bank.
The bride in Song of Solomon implores,
Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.
– Song of Solomon 2:15
Just as a nut-hiding squirrel can spoil a morning, little foxes can ruin a vineyard in short order! The bride, of course, wasn’t really concerned about a vineyard. She was thinking about how little things can undermine the relationship. An insight into a lot of marriages, no?
Or what about Solomon’s observation in Ecclesiastes 10:1:
Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench…
Not much to a little fly or two, but apparently they could ruin a fine bottle of perfume! But Solomon’s observation leads to an important application. He continues,
So a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
How many otherwise well-respected persons have you known or heard about who ended up ruining their lives and reputations for a foolish moment of indiscretion?
Again, Solomon warns against idleness:
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.
– Proverbs 6:10-11
I’ve met too many people who sloughed off through their school years, dropped out, and now drift from one low-wage job to another—still lacking any sense of industry to improve their lot in life.
Finally, Paul observes,
“A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
– Galatians 5:9
A well-known fact serves to emphasize an important principle. The church cannot tolerate a seemingly minor distortion of the gospel or eventually the whole message is corrupted, and that yields eternally destructive consequences!
That metaphor could be applied in a whole host of areas, couldn’t it? A marriage, the home and family…the workplace…a church…a nation, even! Really, any kind of organization of which people are a part!
Yes, a little of something—a fox, a fly, some folly, a pinch of yeast, a nut—can create a big mess! We really can’t afford to ignore the little things, can we?!
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