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written by Herald
FAILING BASIC AUTO MAINTENANCE CAN END AN AUTO'S LIFE--SAME WITH US PEOPLE
The other day, I was driving down a highway in Alaska late for a doctor's appointment, when my car lost power at 70 MPH. For us Americans, and any developed country, state, province, or area, that relies on cars heavily for transportation, our cars can represent a feeling of personal power, or freedom, especially for us guys. But, it's a false sense of security. as Psalm 34 says: "The horse [war horse] is a vain means of safety, and it's great strength [power] affords no escape." (Psalm 33:17--KJV, 1958--unknown translation version; brackets added). And when this source of security and freedom falters, it is an unnerving experience, even traumatic for most people, especially those who have limited financial means and can end up truly stranded.
So, when I put the "pedal to the metal," or "take-off thrust" for a select few, or even, "go for throttle-up" for even a fewer select few, expecting the usual response from my trusty "war horse," and nothing happened, I was immediately distressed, especially when I looked at the temperature gauge, and it was spiked--red-lined, indicating an "engine meltdown." This happened once in the air, when flying an old ultralight aircraft when the propeller shaft sheared and the wooden prop hit the frame, broke in half, and tore up the trailing edge of the nylon wing, a potentially deadly and life-threatening situation requiring the use of the back-up $1500 back-up rocket-deployed ballistic parachute that is designed to save the plane and pilot in the event of a catastrophic failure of the aircraft. This tended to happen to ultralights back in the day, unfortunately, since many of them were not designed and tested to the same standards as aircraft, and on this day, my plane was only 1/4 inch away from a ballistic recovery, last-ditch situation. But the nylon safety strap held, although damaged by the propeller, by 1/4 inch.
On another occasion, we were flying with my dad in his real airplane near Whitehorse, Canada back in the 70's, when his plane red-lined in a diving stall while he was descending through a hole in the clouds, and he elected to dump the flaps and ride the dive out, with is wife and kids yelling loudly at him to do something about it. My father, a surgeon and medical director, never panicked in an emergency--he was steady as a rock, which can be a good thing in most emergencies. He calmly pulled his plane gradually out of the dive at a high rate of speed, and recovered with plenty of altitude after sounding like a WWII plane on a diving run on the enemy. But, Canada is not our enemy, and the Canadian customs officer just said, "welcome to Canada-- we heard you coming, Eh!?"
This is nothing compared to the famous harrowing dive of an Air Canada Boeing 707 airliner by a test-pilot eamset out to test the new plane in a high-speed dive, but some say, they really wanted to be the first to break the sound barrier in a commercial airliner.
But, back down to earth in an auto on the highway, something much less of an emergency. Why did my car overheat and almost end it's usefulness? The heart of an automobile is the cooling system, at least the engine, if you want to get where you're going. I had neglected to top off the coolant system because, being from the 70's before coolant reservoirs, to top off the radiator, you had to just take off the cap and fill it up. I knew this, but, several times, I just topped off the reservoir thinking, "if the reservoir is full, the radiator must be full." I was mistaken. And it almost ruined my car for good. Why did this happen? I am fully responsible for maintaining my vehicle, especially since I am a fairly experienced mechanic. But, what was blinding me to "seeing" that the coolant was low? Repeatedly? In a company, they call this "complacency," and it is a sign that the company is dying. It's the same with a church, or a family marriage relationship, or individual. And often, it is a spiritual attack of malicious spirits on our ministry as Christians. The enemies of God know our weak points and will exploit them.
But, out of time--
written by Herald
FAILING BASIC AUTO MAINTENANCE CAN END AN AUTO'S LIFE--SAME WITH US PEOPLE
The other day, I was driving down a highway in Alaska late for a doctor's appointment, when my car lost power at 70 MPH. For us Americans, and any developed country, state, province, or area, that relies on cars heavily for transportation, our cars can represent a feeling of personal power, or freedom, especially for us guys. But, it's a false sense of security. as Psalm 34 says: "The horse [war horse] is a vain means of safety, and it's great strength [power] affords no escape." (Psalm 33:17--KJV, 1958--unknown translation version; brackets added). And when this source of security and freedom falters, it is an unnerving experience, even traumatic for most people, especially those who have limited financial means and can end up truly stranded.
So, when I put the "pedal to the metal," or "take-off thrust" for a select few, or even, "go for throttle-up" for even a fewer select few, expecting the usual response from my trusty "war horse," and nothing happened, I was immediately distressed, especially when I looked at the temperature gauge, and it was spiked--red-lined, indicating an "engine meltdown." This happened once in the air, when flying an old ultralight aircraft when the propeller shaft sheared and the wooden prop hit the frame, broke in half, and tore up the trailing edge of the nylon wing, a potentially deadly and life-threatening situation requiring the use of the back-up $1500 back-up rocket-deployed ballistic parachute that is designed to save the plane and pilot in the event of a catastrophic failure of the aircraft. This tended to happen to ultralights back in the day, unfortunately, since many of them were not designed and tested to the same standards as aircraft, and on this day, my plane was only 1/4 inch away from a ballistic recovery, last-ditch situation. But the nylon safety strap held, although damaged by the propeller, by 1/4 inch.
On another occasion, we were flying with my dad in his real airplane near Whitehorse, Canada back in the 70's, when his plane red-lined in a diving stall while he was descending through a hole in the clouds, and he elected to dump the flaps and ride the dive out, with is wife and kids yelling loudly at him to do something about it. My father, a surgeon and medical director, never panicked in an emergency--he was steady as a rock, which can be a good thing in most emergencies. He calmly pulled his plane gradually out of the dive at a high rate of speed, and recovered with plenty of altitude after sounding like a WWII plane on a diving run on the enemy. But, Canada is not our enemy, and the Canadian customs officer just said, "welcome to Canada-- we heard you coming, Eh!?"
This is nothing compared to the famous harrowing dive of an Air Canada Boeing 707 airliner by a test-pilot eamset out to test the new plane in a high-speed dive, but some say, they really wanted to be the first to break the sound barrier in a commercial airliner.
But, back down to earth in an auto on the highway, something much less of an emergency. Why did my car overheat and almost end it's usefulness? The heart of an automobile is the cooling system, at least the engine, if you want to get where you're going. I had neglected to top off the coolant system because, being from the 70's before coolant reservoirs, to top off the radiator, you had to just take off the cap and fill it up. I knew this, but, several times, I just topped off the reservoir thinking, "if the reservoir is full, the radiator must be full." I was mistaken. And it almost ruined my car for good. Why did this happen? I am fully responsible for maintaining my vehicle, especially since I am a fairly experienced mechanic. But, what was blinding me to "seeing" that the coolant was low? Repeatedly? In a company, they call this "complacency," and it is a sign that the company is dying. It's the same with a church, or a family marriage relationship, or individual. And often, it is a spiritual attack of malicious spirits on our ministry as Christians. The enemies of God know our weak points and will exploit them.
But, out of time--