FORD Tough-- Part 4 Daily dying and rising

For some reason, my pickup keeps dying and rising. Almost daily it felt like. It'd die on my. I'd bring it into Grant, my mechanic, and then it's get back to working again. Only to die and rise again. Grant is an amazing mechanic and honestly, I want to see if I can take lessons from him on how to take care of my pick up.

Each time people ask me about my pick up, I keep having to admit that the blasted thing is younger than me and in need of repair. The engine's good. Don't get me wrong. The engine itself is in good working order, it's the seals and gaskets that are breaking down. Looking at the engine, it looks amazing, but it's what's on the inside I can't always see.

I've been talking about being FORD tough with FORD standing for "Fix or Repair Daily." (you can check out parts 1,2,and 3 if you'd like)Part of being FORD tough is acknowledging the need to constantly be fixed or repaired daily. Now here is how we can be fixed and repaired daily.

Step 1: Know that you can't do it yourself. Unless you're like the most perfect mechanic in the world and can just wave your hand and make it all fixed, then there's no way you can fix it yourself. No Haynes book in the world will help you. You need to rely on something else.

Step 2: Ask for help. There is the perfect mechanic (and no, it's not Grant, though he's good). Only the perfect healer can heal, only the one True Mechanic can fix and repair you. Come to Him for help. And be willing to receive his help.

Step 3: Be willing and ready to be repaired daily.

So, how can we do step 3? Stop hanging on, loose your life to gain it.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Matthew 16:24-25

This is where some might get mad at me. It's more than just being good. It's more than just being strong willed, more than just standing firm against all odds, more than just having true grit, more than just being willing to take a beating. It's one thing to lay your life down for a cause for the greater good. Commendable, yes, but that's not being FORD tough. To be FORD tough is to not hang onto your life, but to give it up to Jesus instead to use it. And that is the hardest thing.

To be FORD tough, to live a life of being fixed or repaired daily means giving yourself completely and fully over to the One True Mechanic, the One True Physician, Jesus (yes, I said it) and then and only then can you truly be fixed or repaired daily.

If you've done this, given yourself over then be willing to daily stop hanging on to your old self, the past mistakes, the mess-ups, the cracking seals and gaskets, and daily allow the One True Mechanic to repair you.

If you haven't...come, be repaired daily...

FORD Tough--Part 2 Beginning repairs

Just a quick update. My pickup is once again in the shop. Yes. That's right. Back in the shop. It's a small cracked seal. Easy cheap fix, right? Wrong. It's a seal that's right near the transmission. In order to get to the seal, the transmission has to be removed. In order to remove the transmission, you have to open up the engine all together. I'm also worried that this blog on being healthy is going to start being a blog bemoaning my pickup. And I get ribbed because it's a Ford (Fix or Repair Daily they tell me). Well, I want to be FORD tough.

Being FORD tough is hard. It takes a lot of work. So many times we think we're dealing with a simple problem. We think, "Hey, it's just leaking oil. No big whoop. Just need to tighten the cap on the oil pan." We look at the symptoms and think that all we need is just a little fix.

I think we do that in life sometimes too. We look at the symptoms and think that all we really need is a little fix. Just some extra effort here, a little bit of work there. But in all honesty. I think we need to honestly look at ourselves.

I came across a blog that has really hit home for me. It's called Fat Girl,Fit World. Her latest blog post reflected what I've had to realize about myself. She said that it's hard to see yourself for you you really are. And that's so true.

And I've had to come to a realization that my pickups messed up too. It's a classic. It's great. And it's falling a part. So, how is this being FORD tough? When you're FORD tough, you have to constantly understand that you're in need of fixing and repairing daily. You have to actually admit it. And that's hard. This is called "confessing" something that I talked about at the end of Part 1 of being FORD tough.

To be FORD tough is to admit that you're not perfect, that you are going to make mistakes and you need to forgive yourself of your mistakes, and ask others to forgive you as well. But it's hard to do so. Being FORD tough means you understand you need help in this area.

I like these words

Praise the LORD , O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. Psalm 103:2-3

We have other words on forgiveness--forgiving each other, forgiving ourselves. We have the truth that is given to us. I love to hear these words from Jesus

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:6-7

The truth is: My pick ups busted. The truth is: I can't fix it myself but need help from Grant at Select Services here in town.

The truth is: We make mistakes and need help accepting them. The truth is: There's only one person who can truly help us do this.

The truth is, there's a great way to be repaired.

What mistakes do you need to accept? What are things you need to forgive yourself for?

My poor pick up, I'm afraid

Yeah. My pick up's down again. I love it. It's old and classic...and 3 years younger than me.

What's wrong with it? Leaking oil something awful. Went on a hospital visit today and it was running rough where the engine's going "chuggity-chug-chug-thump, chuggity-chug-chug-thump." And I'm thinking that's probably not a good sound. I did some auto shop back in high school, but that's because I was bringing in my 1977 Buick Skylark constantly to work on the breaks and repair the master cylinder. That's not enough to work on a classic like this thing. Grant it that back in high school I wasn't reflecting on the fact that the Buick Skylark was my age as well. You don't think about those things when you're in high school.

But, boy howdy, you sure do in your 30's. What's getting me is that when looking at my pick up, I'm starting to look at my own mortality. Don't know why I'm getting so stinking deep in a short blog, but yeah. That's right. I'm starting to see my own failures, my own shortcomings and it's scaring the bejeebers out of me. I don't want to fail. I don't want to mess up. I don't want to be curled up in a ball on the living room floor rocking back and forth trying to find my happy place.

While hitting the bike at the gym tonight (again, too tired right now to lift weights, so I'm biking instead) I was listening to a podcast by Lifechurch.tv. Been listening to them a lot when I do cardio. I was watching one of their podcasts on quitting fear. And yeah, I'm afraid. So, I must face it.

For me, I think of these verses

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7 NIV

Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Psalm 25:1 KJV

And the one verse that kept hitting me over and over again

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

So I'm going to face my fears. No freakin' idea how right now..but at least I know what needs to be done.

As for my old pick up? Still working on that one.. do I take lessons in auto shop again?

What about you? What fears do you need to face right now in your life?

My Pick up got up and left

I have a pickup. In fact, I have a 1980 custom Ford F-150. It is a downright classic. It is a V-8 361 engine that runs great. I had to have some basic maintenance done on it to keep it up and running. Seals and gaskets get old and cracked over time. It needs routine maintence from time to time to make sure it doesn't break down. A 30 year-old classic like this needs to be...wait...

It occurs to me that my pick up is 30 years old.

I'm 33. Am I a classic? Will my seals and gaskets get all cracked and warped here soon.

So, routine maintenance is good for my 30 year-old pick up, I'm guessing it's good for me. So, let me try to do some maintenance here.

I think I'm doing okay emotionally. No major break downs. ADD meds doing fine. Some frustrations from time to time (with a 5 year-old and a 2 year-old, I'm guessing it's okay to have some frustrations) but overall I think I'm doing okay.

I think I'm doing okay spiritually. I know that I haven't been journaling as of late like I really want to. I have been trying to regularly be in God's Word (in my line of work, it is essential to regularly be in the Word)And I've been praying a lot lately (again.. a 5 year-old and a 2 year-old..you pray for patience mostly) for my family, friends and most importantly for the church here in Corsica.

Physically on the other hand? Well, my bathroom scale and I have this hate/hate relationship going on. First it didn't give me the results I wanted and then it just started messing with me. I just bought a new one today. Take that bathroom scale, you can be replaced!!

I've always found what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 to be interesting. I've used it to encourage myself to keep on doing maintenance.

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

Now, my hope is to work on my pick up and keep it going so that it remains not just a classic but in great shape as well...I'm thinking that should be my goal with myself too, to strive on for the prize, to run the race well, to keep on keeping on.. now to just figure out about them blasted gray hairs.