A friend told me a joke the other day about a woman who went to an auto repair shop and asked the mechanic for a seven hundred ten. He looked puzzled and said, “What’s a seven hundred ten?” She replied, “You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine. I’ve lost it and need a new one. I don’t know exactly what it is or what it does, but it’s always been there.”
The mechanic asked her to draw a picture of what it looked like. She drew a circle and wrote 710 in the middle of it. He still couldn’t figure out what she needed, so he took her over to a car that had its hood up and asked, “Is there a 710 on this car?” She pointed to the OIL cap and said, “Of course! It’s right there.”
The upside down OIL cap looked like the number 710 to her – and actually when you look at it that way, it does! It’s all a matter of how we look at things isn’t it?
I have to admit; I got a kick out of that joke, because I have an oil cap story myself.
One time I forgot to put the oil cap back on after adding oil to my engine. When the warning light came on I figured the light was just malfunctioning. I had just added oil, so it couldn’t be low!
I ignored the light until one day I thought I’d better check the level – perhaps I had a leak and the oil had drained out. I pulled into a gas station and opened the hood of my car. It was a black mess! The oil cap was missing and there was oil splattered all over the engine and underside of the hood.
I immediately added oil and asked the mechanic for an oil cap. He checked out my engine to make sure it wasn’t damaged (thankfully it wasn’t) and then he pressure washed it to clean off the spilled oil.
Needless to say, I learned from my mistake. It’s amazing how skipping one step can potentially do irreparable damage to your engine.
That’s true in life too. Sometimes, we get so busy that we skip those steps that are designed to protect us from harm. As Christians, some of those important steps are daily prayer and devotions. When we start backsliding on our walk with the Lord it can be even more dangerous than leaving the oil cap off our engine.
Unlike the oil, God won’t leave us if we forget to “put the cap on”. But, a big mess can still happen if we skip our daily spiritual steps. And if the warning light comes on, don’t ignore it!
Happy New Year to you and your family!
Love,
Martha
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