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Honestly

by Jerry Ousley  
1/26/2008 / Christian Living

Every accident I've ever had except for one, which wasn't my fault, has been backing up. I've talked about that before. The most recent one was in our Neon. I was talking to our daughter, while backing into our driveway. I had done this nearly a million times before so I wasn't thinking much about what I was doing when WHAM! I had backed in a manner that crashed the front wheel into a covert. It messed up the rack and pinion of our car. The mechanic said it would cost $600.00 to get it fixed. But first he had to find one that would fit our car. This was on a Saturday.

He told me on Monday that he had been trying to locate a part. The problem was that in our model of Neon a total of three different rack and pinion sets had been used in the manufacturing process. Supposedly there was a three digit number located in the trunk around the spare tire that identified which of these three sets had been used in the manufacture of our car. The problem was that he could not find that three-digit number. But he would keep trying.

On Tuesday he told me that he had looked everywhere possible on our car including the owner's manual in the glove box all to no avail. He just couldn't locate that number. But he would keep trying. He told me that his brother also owned an auto repair shop in Lafayette, Indiana. He would call him after he closed that evening and see if he could produce any ideas. However if he was unable to come up with an answer then I would have no choice but to take it to a dealer. You know what that would mean If it would cost $600.00 at his shop I could expect somewhere between that and $1000.00 at the dealer. I finished Tuesday in a cold sweat.

I almost chickened out on calling him on Wednesday. But I had no choice so I dialed his number. What a relief when he told me that he had managed to locate the part and had ordered it. Suddenly $600.00 sounded like a good deal. He felt like the part would be in around noon on Thursday and there should be no problem picking up our car later on that afternoon. I took off work early so Deb and I could fit in everything we had to do and still have time to pick up the car. But when I got home and called, the part still hadn't arrived. It was in town but hadn't been delivered to the garage yet. But it was coming and he promised me that he would finish our car that evening.

We had another appointment at 6:00 and so we agreed to call him after that to see whether the car was finally finished or not. We completed that obligation around 7:00 and so I hurried to the cell phone to call the mechanic with whom I was now on a first name basis. It still wasn't ready. He promised to call us when it was done. So we drove home and I waited impatiently by the phone.

At 8:10 the phone rang. It was Darrin our mechanic (see I told you we were now on a first name basis). His words were, "I'm either going to make you very happy or very angry." I now wondered what was next. Let me back up here and tell you another fact before I finish. That evening I had just read a chapter in the current book I'm reading that dealt with having favor with God. The writer taught that we should be aware of little things that happen in our lives that indicate God's favor upon us.

Okay. That being said the mechanic continued, "When we loosened the bolts to remove the old rack and pinion set a strange thing happened. The old rack and pinion set just slide into place. Nothing seemed to be bent or broken. I took it on a test drive and everything seemed to be okay so we just did a four wheel alignment and that's all I'm going to charge you for." Now compare: $600.00 to $59.95. I'd call that the favor of God!

But the main point I would like to make about this incident is not the favor of God in my situation but the honesty of this mechanic. Honesty is a rare trait these days especially in the world of auto repair. We see it on news programs often. Mechanics who tell people that something is wrong with their car and charge tremendous bills for the necessary repair and never really ever do anything. This mechanic could have done the same thing and I'd never have known it. He could have returned the part for a refund, told me that he had installed the new part and still charged me $600.00 and I would have been happy to just have our car back.

This mechanic spent hours trying to find the right part for our car then worked late into the evening trying to get it fixed for us. But it turned out that we really didn't need a new rack and pinion set. He spent all that time and only got the listed price for a four-wheel alignment. But he did earn something all my future tire and underside work on any of our vehicles. I know he's an honest mechanic!

In today's world honesty without a written contract to hold the parties to their word is a rare thing. I propose, with all our modern conveniences, get rich quick schemes, and the race for the American dream, a few more honest mechanics in every field could sure make a difference.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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