Shock Absorbers

This post takes us back to the style of writing this blog began with.  More of a devotional style look at life.  Occasionally things just strike me in a certain way and last week was one of those times.

Our van had begun handling strangely.  Kind of a skipping sideways action at random times as I would drive down the road.  At first I thought I was just imagining it but as the week went on and it happened more frequently I found myself saying so right out loud.  "That is not my imagination!"  Maybe you never talk to yourself... but in some cases it is the only way to deal with my freaking out self.

 And so, I told my personal mechanic (Warren/Hubby) about the situation.  Now it was with mixed emotions that I received word from him that he had noticed the same funky shimmy when he had driven it on Tuesday.  Oh, interesting.   Well then, what do you think it is?  I asked expecting him to say that it was this or that but certainly not anything urgent...since he hadn't immediately told me to stop driving the van.  He didn't know.  Perhaps a sway bar or some other part of the suspension.  He would have to look.

Yes.  Please.

And so he did look.  A day or so later.  And he found that a shock absorber had a hole in the outer housing and the fluid was draining out.  Apparently this was the issue.  He would know for sure once the new parts arrived and were installed.  In the meanwhile, being content that a tire wasn't going to fall off or the frame break mid lane change I continued to drive the van.  And so there was the added excitement of the occasional hop, skip and jump sideways when there was unexpected roughness in my lane.

New shocks arrived in the mail.  Isn't that where everyone gets their car parts these days?  With so many older cars in our driveway I know we get car parts in the mail very, very often.

Warren installed both rear shock absorbers, because it was the right thing to do, I guess.  I'm definitely no mechanic.  :-)

We drove our next mission.  I have no idea where we went that day but we did notice how amazingly smooth and straight that ride was.  Even when we hit bumpy sections that would formerly have knocked us off course.  The tires which had previously left the road momentarily now seriously gripped it.  It is a whole new experience. Although it had been the case always, except when it wasn't. I had simply never thought about it.  Now it is front and center in my mind as I head down the highway.

This is why I got to thinking about it.  We all know that in this life there are irregularities and unexpected bumps in the road.  Believers have shock absorbers that help us to maintain our place on the road. I see the Word of God as our shock absorber.  If I am pondering, memorizing and meditating on it I am much better suited for those bumps in the road.  If my prayer life is active I'll turn first to Him when the hurtful thing happens that would otherwise make me want to be angry or vindictive.  There is much less chance of being knocked sideways with those shock absorbers at work.

 It may be  stretch to make this analogy.  It wouldn't be a first for me....but hey, it is what God used to speak to me this week.