Recalls, Recalls, how could a 2008 Camry driver have peace behind the wheel knowing that any second the gas pedal could stick?

The way automotive engineers used to explain it to us was, “You know we engineered the problem in so, we can engineer it out.”

Well one cool thing about God, is how he engineered us to recognize when things are right verses when they are out of kilter. One of the truly great books is, A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller. To apply a bit of his book; let’s take a look at God’s engineering through one line of the 23^rd Psalm. The second verse, “He leads me beside still waters.” God engineered sheep so that fast running water terrifies them. That’s pretty neat when you think about it. If you’re a sheep with that big heavy wool coat, then falling in a fast moving stream may be fatal. So a good shepherd knows that a sheep will die of thirst before he drinks from a fast moving stream, so he “leads them beside the still waters”. Then think about this; God leads us by the “Living Water” slow enough that we can get a drink.

Chances are God engineered you to be terrified of something as well, in my case, fear of the dark. At six foot five and two hundred fifty pounds you wouldn’t think it, but my wife would tell you that for years if I herd a noise downstairs, I would send her. As my producer said, “Man up, Robby”. Well, what can I say, but that was the way God engineered me originally. So maybe I needed to be Recalled, well yes in a way.

One night it all came to a head, my wife was out of town and we lived in a particularly dark and creepy old house, rain, lighting, you get the picture, in my case, pure terror. Having just begun my walk with Christ I had herd that we were supposed to lay our fears at his feet and I was more than ready to oblige.

So I remember praying, “Lord I don’t know how, but I would really like to give You this fear.”

Surprisingly, God answered me, (which had me even more scared). “Robby, what’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“Someone could walk in here with a knife and whack, thump, bash, hit, gouge!” I said very animatedly.

Then God said the words that literally changed my life, “Robby, what would be so bad about that?”

For the first time in my life I thought about my own death as a Christian and that I would get to see His Face. Why, I had never thought of that, that, “to die was gain”. A year later when I faced a cancer diagnosis I had a different view of death that I know made a big difference in my recovery. I truly believe that God engineered me with that fear of the dark for the purpose of teaching me about death when he Recalled me that night in the creepy house.

So whether you’re driving a 2008 Camry or you’re afraid of the dark there is no peace, shalom you might say in the Hebrew. Do you have shalom, do you need to be recalled?

Our Pastor shared something about the word shalom last Sunday that I couldn’t get out of my mind all week. He said the word really means completed in God’s covenant way.

So I went and did a study on the word as soon as I got home. Here is the Blue Letter Bible’s Outline of Biblical Usage for the word “Shalom”

completeness (in number)

safety, soundness (in body)

welfare, health, prosperity

peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment

peace, friendship

of human relationships

with God especially in covenant relationship

The first place you find shalom in the Bible; Gen 15:15 “But you will go to your fathers in shalom. You will be buried in a good old age.”

This was God’s Covenant with Abraham, His friend. I got to thinking, wow, maybe Jesus meant that as his last words from the cross…since the word shalom means completed in God’s covenant relationship. Remember when Jesus said, “It is Finished” from the cross, something to think about.

Can you tell God engineered us with sort of gut feeling of shalom or not shalom? Do you have that feeling something is missing in your life. Chances are you need to be recalled.

Think about God’s peace and how can anyone be complete without Jesus.

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How Do You Go “The Extra Mile”?

Today on the Christian Car Guy Show Ford Motor Company’s Steve Ling will join us live from Detroit to tell us how they got the 305hp 2011 Mustang to do it with an astonishing 31mpg highway beating their estimated 30mpg by one mile, even more amazing when you consider that a 4cyl Honda Accord is also rated at 31mpg highway.

So how do you get your car to get just one more mile per gallon, which would save you about a hundred bucks a year and perhaps six thousand in your lifetime? One hundred dollars towards your Lottie Moon offering this year that could go towards keeping a missionary in Botswana, or help out with Campus Crusade for Christ, or an offering to 40 days for life next spring.

I will get to all that in a minute, but more importantly are you going the extra mile in your life? Last week I was in Nashville for the National Religious Broadcasters Convention the NRB, and the highlight of my time there was when Mosab Hassan Yousef took the stage. He is the Author of the book Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices. Mosab was born in Ramallah, in the Palestinian West Bank in 1978. His father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, is a founding leader of Hamas, internationally recognized as a terrorist organization and responsible for countless suicide bombings and other deadly attacks against Israel. Yousef was an integral part of the movement, for which he was imprisoned several times by the Shin Bet, the Israeli intelligence service. He withstood torture in prison only to discover Hamas was torturing its own people in a relentless search for collaborators. He began to question who his enemies were. When he took the stage at the NRB you could see the Light of God in his eyes as he spoke of how Jesus said love your enemies. Someone had handed him a New Testament in prison and he saw the real God who loved him even though he had not known Him and was trying to kill, God’s people.

What won Mosab over to Christ was Matthew 5: ⁴¹ And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. ⁴² Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor^[g] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,^{[h] 45} that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

I wish everyone could hear Mosab’s impassioned talk on loving the Muslims and hating their god. Just like me, the Muslims are simply sinners who need a savior. Frank Wright the president of the NRB in his final admonition to us asked that we picture ourselves in heaven and God has you there at the Throne and asks to see your file. He starts to thumb through it and says, “I see you were an obedient son, uh huh and you were so passionate about serving me and loving your brother and sisters.”

At that point you’re thinking, “What! That can’t be me He has the wrong file” you then see the tab on the file and it all makes sense, the tab says Jesus. That’s the good news Jesus cleaned out my file by dying on the cross. Then by believing really believing he died to clean out my file I can spend eternity with Him.

Now when my enemy says go a mile, how can I not see that my enemy needs that same file shredder I had. It’s love that drew me to the cross; it will be love that will draw him as well. That’s how it happened for Mosab.

Now back to how to get that extra mile of gas for the kingdom.

Robby’s Top Twenty Gas Savers

1. Pray, ask God to help you to be a good steward, and mean it!!!!

2. Don’t speed!!!! For many reasons, #1 it’s what the Bible says, Romans 13

3. Check mileage and record it!!!! You can’t manage what you don’t measure!!!! Go to https://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=garage

4. Air Filter?

5. Is your check engine or service engine soon light on?

6. Junk in the Trunk?

7. Tire Pressure?
According to your owners manual!!!*****Very Dangerous DON”T OVERINFLATE ***********

8. Alignment?

9. Synthetic or lower viscosity oil?? Up to 1% to 3%

10. Don’t fill up, (6 pounds per gallon of gas, 7 ponds per gallon of Diesel) 10 extra gallons = 1 bag of cement in your trunk) save up to 1%

11. Easy does it!!! Try not to lose your momentum!

12. Don’t be a click click clicker when filling your tank!!!!

13. Avoid any unnecessary air resistance…sun roof open or unnecessary racks!!!!!

14. Shortest Routes with most right turns and least traffic with fewest hills!!!

15. When buying tires go as small as your owner’s manual allows!!!

16. Test different fuels and octane levels

17. Park in the shade with the easiest possible exit route!!!

18. A/C use and open windows, Over 50 it’s not thrifty, when in town keep em down!!

19. Choose the Highway, (preferably interstate) less stop and go, smoother, much safer!!!

20. Leave yourself plenty of margin, time so you don’t have to rush!!!!!

NEW CHEVY BILLBOARDS
POSTED AROUND  DETROIT

I wouldn’t have thought so a couple of days ago, but I have honestly changed both my view on this and my lifestyle. Uh, oh a reformed cell driver!

What changed my life was tomorrow’s guest on The Christian Car Guy show, Jenifer Smith president and founding board member of FocusDriven advocates for cell free driving. In September 2008 she lost her mother to a young man who ran a red light while talking on his cell phone and The Lord has since used her to Focus thousands on this growing tragedy.  Her information about the dangers and consequences of ignoring this problem has changed my mind and now my life, (it does reduce your amount of multitasking time), but it may save both lives and minutes on my bill.

January 12, 2010. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and National Safety Council President Janet Froetscher announced the creation of FocusDriven, the first national nonprofit organization devoted specifically to raising awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.

This process may seem simple enough, however, ask any Body Shop and they will tell you horror stories of many a well meaning car wash victim.

Number one, have you ever seen a Classic or Antique car going through an automatic car wash? I doubt you ever will. Even the brushless ones use clothes that get the grime and sand from the last three hundred cars they washed and then leave little tiny scratches all through your clear coat. Or high pressure water that loves to get into places it shouldn’t, this causes all kinds of damage that you may not see for months.

Besides, there is nothing like going over your cars paint surfaces with a clean towel that helps you, “feel the love” necessary for a long, long  happy relationship. This, by the way could save you up to $500,000 over 47 years as did Rachel with her car Chariot.

First get your gear together, hose, bucket, clean wash mitt (a clean wash rag will do), liquid dish washing soap (like Lux, or dawn), a tire brush (Brillo pads will do ONLY FOR THE TIRES NOT THE WHEELS OR ANYTHING ELSE).  A good vinyl cleaner like Armor All or McGuiars, glass cleaner, News Paper works great for windows or just paper towels. If you live down south in the summer you may want to get a good bug remover like McGuiars, and a shop Vac or some kind of vacuum, Tire dressing.

Next try to get your car in the shade on a sunny day, (water spots). Go ahead and vacuum the car out first and clean the interior vinyl surfaces.

Then starting at the top of the roof, rinse down the entire car. Always start on top and work your way down, gravity will work for you with the heavier gritty dirt on the lower part of the car. Rinse the complete outside of the car including the wheels and tires.

Now add a small amount of your dish washing soap to the bucket and fill it with soapy water. Again, starting at the very top of your car, soap up you mitt and start washing in circular motion. Never get the mitt grimy from the bottom of the car and then go back to the upper surfaces or if you drop it in the dirt get that one clean or go get another. Keeping your circular motion move down to the hood and deck lid, then to the sides and lastly the rocker panels (the panels below the doors) until you have soaped down the entire car. Now rinse thoroughly.

Go ahead now and use your tire brush on those tires, scrub, scrup hard, then wash the wheels and rinse.

Now using a clean dry towel or shammy dry off the car, again starting at the top and working down dry the all the paint surfaces and dress the tires. Lastly clean the windows.

Finally park your car on the grass somewhere and stand back and admire. AHHHHH