God is like tranny fluid

being the daughter of a career mechanic, i possess rudimentary automobile wisdom. when i turned 16 i had to sign a contract with my parents that outlined where i could drive the first few weeks of having my license, who could ride with me, and it listed several things i was required to learn how to do myself: change a tire, check oil & tranny fluid ("tranny" is mechanic-speak for "transmission"), check tire pressure, etc. [i still have the contract...i may threaten my future children with it someday! hehe]


btw, as a small child i used to hang out and "help" in dad's shop. i'm pretty sure that stopped as soon i learned how to read and became a bookworm. (dad may have been grateful...someday i'll share the "sandpaper fiasco")

anyway, lately shifting has been real sluggish in the bantam menace. i was up at my parents' and just before i left i asked dad if he could check it out. he looks at me and says, "have you checked your transmission fluid lately?"

busted! of course i haven't. so i answer, "uhhhh...not recently. how often am i supposed to check that?" that's right, marie. change the subject. brilliant.

"well, you know you have leak, so you should check it pretty often." oh, yeah. forgot about that.

crap. so dad has me drive bantam down to his shop so he can check it for me.

now, here's where you learn something: to check your tranny fluid, your car has to be running and shifted into NEUTRAL. make sure you put a block behind your front tire so your car doesn't roll away and hit things.

so we do this and dad checks the fluid. at this point he is reiterating to me that i need to check the fluid level often, because of that confounded leak. i ask if once a week would be good enough. he says, "yeah, that would be good."

he pulls out the dipstick and shows it to me while explaining how to read it. it is bone dry.

i feel it necessary to make a comment for some reason, so I say, "well, that's not good."

dad then puts more fluid in the menace, gives me some to take with me, and instructs that i should carry a quart of tranny fluid with me at all times. (of course) he also lets me take the block of wood with me, too. phew. i didn't have my own.

fast forward to the drive home. i'm thinking about tranny fluid and my tranny...and how it could have seized or something due to my lack of diligence. well, folks, here is where God is like tranny fluid (has that word gotten annoying yet?!). sure, your transmission can run for a long time without transmission fluid, but not forever. sure, your life will be fine for a long time without including God in it, but not forever.

bottom line is this: a transmission was built and designed to function with transmission fluid. we were built and designed to function with God in our life.