Riley's truck is a work in progress. We've done a lot to it. We have a lot to do.
I'm not really a handyman so I am in way over my head. One of the first projects we tackled was to fix the driver's side door handle. It's not as easy as the youtube video makes it look. We had to clean out enough space in the garage to park it inside because of rain storms headed our way. Altogether it took several trips to the parts store, dozens of views of the videos, and most of a week to get everything apart, fixed, and put back together. But it works and I don't care if I never get to do that again.
Today we tackled the lock on the back glass panel. The truck is a GMC Yukon with a fold down tailgate and a fold up glass. The glass wouldn't lock and Riley is always carrying around a bag full of baseball gear I'd rather not replace and a set of speakers (that we can't get to work!) that don't even belong to him. So we needed to get the lock fixed.
I poked and prodded. We could hear the motor trying but nothing moved. So I removed two screws from the panel covering the inside of the tailgate. That just gave me enough of a view to coax me into removing the other dozen screws and taking the panel out of the way. That wasn't bad at all but the whole time I'm wondering if this will go back on easily. Riley told me later he was wondering the same thing!
Now with the panel removed it became clear we needed to removed a metal plate covering the lock mechanism. I tried to talk myself out of it but my son was watching and I couldn't turn back now. I'm no good at just looking at a bolt head and judging the right size wrench to use so it took several random choices before I got it right. In case you ever have to remove the plate covering the lock mechanism on the tailgate of a 1996 GMC Yukon, you will need a 10mm socket or wrench. If you already knew that, I don't care!
And a vacuum cleaner. You'll need a vacuum cleaner. All the foam backing inside the plastic cover was no longer stuck to the cover but was either dust or in small strips/pieces. It was greasy. What a mess! So you'll also need some of that orange hand cleaner, too. We have some left from the time we changed spark plugs and wires.
Don't tell Riley, but I'm not sure what I did to fix the lock but he's really impressed. He said, "Wow, I'm gonna tell Forrest tomorrow that you fixed it!" Forrest is the guy at church who can fix anything. He's usually the guy we have to call to bail us out when we have reached the end of our wits and ability. It's happened more than once. We also call Jon. He's the guy who told me that I'd just have to work as quickly as possible - that was when I had removed the fuel filter and gasoline was pouring out like a fire hydrant.
So I'm not sure what I did to fix the lock but I could tell that this one part needed to move when Riley pushed the unlock button on the key fob but it didn't. I could see that a spring didn't look like I thought it should so I wiggled it around to the other side of a thingy. I helped the moving parts move.
Then we tested the lock and it worked. I'm a genius in my son's eyes.
Really, all I did was notice a few things that didn't seem to be the way they were supposed to be. And I helped them get how they were supposed to be. I could have been completely wrong in my assessment of how things are supposed to be, but I was right this time.
My role as pastor of a family of Christians is much the same way. I look at stuff going on in our lives and compare that to how things are supposed to be. Then I do what I can to help them get how they are supposed to be. The Word of God is my guide - not a youtube video or a self-help book or my personal opinion - so I am confident in His directions. Someone is stuck and I help them get free. Something is in the wrong place and I help show the right place. And so on.
I'm better at that than I am at fixing stuff on Riley's truck but I still sometimes wonder if everything will go back together the way it should. I've learned that God's grace is sufficient for that.
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