The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.” Psalm 19:7-8
I came so close, but missed it by a mile. Last year I was checking out the Walmart clearance aisle and came upon a bike carrier thing for your car. Well, I happen to own two bikes and even occasionally ride them, so I bought it. I brought it home and put it on a shelf where it happily lived. And then, I decided to be cool.
Judy and I are regular exercisers but it normally is limited to her doing walking and REFIT (something that involves dancing and rhythm so I’m out) and me walking. We both do some hiking. Well, we decided it was time to expand our horizons so we found a bike trail down at Fort Massac and decided to load up the bikes and give it a try. So I went and found the bike thing and proceeded to try assemble it. Note the word try.
I dumped the parts on the kitchen counter (first hint that I am not a mechanic) and then it happened. Because it involved attaching this thing to my car and the fact that it involved two bikes being attached to this thing and the fact that I didn’t want to get sued if they fell off the thing—I read the directions. That is the miracle. Everyone knows that men don’t stop and ask for directions when driving and we don’t read the directions when we are putting something together. That is not manly. Ask for directions, read the directions and it is almost an automatic surrender of your man-card.
I decided to risk being disbarred and read the directions anyway. Now let me say it proved that we men are justified in not reading them in the first place. Whoever wrote these directions obviously didn’t have a clue about the bike thing or the English language. But I gave it due diligence and proceeded to assemble it. It only had about six major parts, so hey, it couldn’t be that hard. Right? Wrong.
After about an hour, yes, I said an hour, the six parts were assembled. Judy and I took this thing out and try to strap it to the back of our car. I have used one of these before and this one just didn’t make sense. There was one part of the rack that had some sharp parts and I could see this thing doing some serious damage to the car. Well, after an hour, we had it sorta mounted and even put the bikes on it. Something just didn’t seem right. My final thought was, “What did you expect for $15 bucks. So I took the bikes off, threw the thing in the garage and called it a day. I didn’t want to ride the bike anyway.
I go back in the work room (aka the kitchen) and began picking up the mess. When I grabbed the box this thing came in I looked inside. And there, wedged neatly inside, was a part, a really big part, a really important part. Oops. As I thought about it I did remember reading something about this middle brace thing, but I thought the guy in China was probably on a rant or something. So I pulled out the part and had an epiphany…my ah-ha moment. I brought the thing back in, disassembled too much of it, and attached the new found part. Ta-da—it all made sense. Amazing. Miraculous.
Now the crazy ending to this crazy story is that we put the thing back on my car, put the bikes back on the thing and I still didn’t feel like it looked safe. I could hear the lawyer calling. “Yes, we are calling to sue you for everything you have because your bike fell off this thing attached to your car. Will you be paying with cash, credit card, or your left arm?” So, the bottom line …the thing is still in the garage and the bikes are still parked. Stupid directions. They must be related to the watermelon.
Here is what I learned. Man-card or not, it is beneficial to read the directions. I know it goes against everything we men hold dear but we just need to be over-comers and read them. But, and it is a big but, you really need to read them carefully and then do what they say. I halfway read them and ended up leaving a big, important part in the box. That cost me time, frustration and a chunk of my pride. Bummer.
I asked myself, “If reading the instructions on putting a bike thing together are important, I wondering if it is important to read “the Instructions,” aka, the Bible.” I mean the Bible is like the most important instruction manual of all time. And the answer was clear. Yes. I should, we should, read it carefully and apply it fully. There is probably a paragraph on the instructions for the bike thing that tells me how important the instructions are…to ready them carefully. I didn’t read that part.
Well, the Bible has a lot to say about, “Hey, read this…it is really important.” It goes like this, “The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.” And somewhere it should say you will have fewer calls from lawyers if you read it. Fewer regrets, fewer consequences, fewer disasters. Yup. Read them and apply them.
So I’m gonna give the bike thing another shot and I’ll tell you now, I’m going to follow the directions. It might not turn out well but I have to redeem my man-card. I’ll let you know. But one thing is for sure. If you choose to read, follow and apply “the Instruction manual” you won’t regret it. It says in there that if we follow the instructions we can rest in Him. Oh and it also says, “I’ve got this.” He does. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 