Car Maintenance Recording Keeping

Let me just say I still am amazed how automatically easy this process now is and all for FREE!!! I have long touted the importance of keeping service records; because back when I appraised car for trade-ins, I would add as much as a thousand dollars to a cars value if it had the proper service records. Now by just downloading the MYCARFAX phone app. Then simply have it scan your cars VIN# bar code , (under the windshield or in the door jam) and SHAZAM…. you instantly know

  1. Open recalls like the Takata Air Bag Recall
  2. Your cars service history 10 years back
  3. Recommended service Intervals
  4. Approximate repair costs for 100’s of components
  5. Local Shops and Their Ratings

It even let me put in “Old Red” as my vehicles nick name and a picture, that made this old car guys heart go pitter pat. What an amazingly easy way to do this chore and keep track and easily prepare for upcoming expenses. You may see it’s been 70,000 miles since you had a break job or 6 years since a battery…. Yes it’s kinda like an Ebenezer.

Ebenezer

This week I was reading William Gurnall’s Classic “The Christian in Complete Armor” and in his exhorting us to put on the belt of truth he urged to set up an Ebenezer. That word, what does it mean I thought, I remembered singing it many times in the song, “Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing” and yet never had any idea what it meant, all I could think of was old Ebenezer Scrooge (Charles Dickens had an amazing meaning here as well). So I looked it up and the the Holy Spirit with the above passage of scripture quickly brought the concept into sharp focus; especially for me. I could build a wall of stones, for thus far God has helped me time and time and time again. The more I thought about this the more I thought about the truth I needed to belt around me and that truth is” I forget a lot. Then I recalled what happened in 1995 a year before I had cancer and the Jeep crushed me.

I was headed for the vacation of a lifetime, Tammy and I had won a trip through Chrysler to fly to Denmark get on a Cruise ship and tour Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Russia. I had only come to Christ 4 years before but was really enjoying the intimacy and during the long flight I was deep in prayer, when The Lord clearly told me to write down all my experiences with Him. I obeyed and there is no explaining the value of that Ebenezer to me today. I now have volumes of journals, I even have the notes I took on that trip on the ships stationary. I have my bout with cancer, The Jeep crushing, getting fired from Bob Neil Chrysler, My Daughter Mariah’s Birth, starting Westside Chrysler Dodge Jeep, my brain abscess and yes even the call to begin the Christian car guy show.

The details written in all those entries would have long been forgotten, each one an Ebenezer as it has always been my practice to begin each entry with thanksgiving for all the help I had along the way. Now in no way can I doubt or even begin to doubt God’s grace, His Favor, His love or His discipline… It’s all in there like, “Prago Spaghetti Sauce” 🙂