Stop Trying to Fix It

Posted on May 28, 2019

Underneath my car is this thing called an undercar cover or shield and let’s just say that thing has been through a lot.

One night, I got too close to the parking lot bumper and the cover split in half, but someone from my church came over with their tools and fixed it for me.

Then another night, an animal ran in front of my car as I was going home. Again, it tore the engine cover. I did everything I could to hold on to that cover. I even used duct tape.

Well, some time had passed, but I eventually ordered a new engine cover. The parts and labor was a little over $200.

My car was finally fixed and it looked good.

Then, one day as I was driving to the movie theater with my son, I saw something in the road. It looked like Spanish moss. But, instead of swerving to the right or left, what did I do? I drove over it and apparently it got caught in the cover and pulled it as I was driving. The next thing I heard was the sound of something dragging on the highway.

My new cover was damaged again and that was money that I couldn’t get back.

So, I let the cover drag as long as I could because I wasn’t getting this fixed again. When it was time for my next oil change, a young man (from a different auto shop) looked at the cover for me.

Minutes later, he comes in the waiting area holding the cover over his shoulder. I’m waiting for him to tell me the price of the parts and labor, but he says nothing. So I said, What is it going to cost?

He said, Nothing. You don’t need it. You can drive without it.

And you know what? He was right. I was trying to fix something that really didn’t need to be fixed. I didn’t need the engine cover to drive the car and it didn’t stop me from reaching the places I needed to go.

Why am I telling this story?

Because sometimes we try to fix situations that God can only fix and we try to change people that only God can change. We try to get to certain places in our life, holding on to things or people that was more of a burden than a blessing. And the enemy will use ‘what we think we need’ to get us off course, to keep us going in circles, to pull us away from the voice of God and to lead us in the wrong direction. Such distractions have cost many of us too much time and too much money.

I learned three things from this car as it relates to my life:
1) I can’t fix it.
2) Not everything needs fixing.
3) There are some things that only God can fix.