THE PARABLE OF THE BIG GREEN VAN

We had been having problems with my wife's van. We had purchased it used, and it ran good for several years. But then, things started to fall apart. It just wouldn't run good. It took several tries to crank it, and when you pulled up to a red light or stop sign, it would die and you would have to recrank it. Despite how it looked on the outside, there was a problem with the van. It was an internal problem. There was something wrong with the heart of the machine -- with the engine. Something was missing. Something was wrong.

A friend of ours said he had the answer. We just weren't getting enough fuel. We just needed more power. So he came over and changed out the fuel filter and the air filter. "This will do it," he said. "You won't have any problems now." And we didn't, at least on the way home. But the next morning, the same thing happened again. Something just wasn't right. We knew it, but just didn't know what we needed.

Our friends and I tried everything we could to fix the problem, but to no avail. The fuel filter didn't work. The air filter didn't work. Fixing the exhaust leak -- no help. Fuel additives -- still nothing. There was absolutely nothing that we could do to fix the problem. Finally, we faced the fact that there was no other option -- we went forward and found a professional to look at it.

The mechanic immediately hooked up his diagnostic computer and compared our engine to the model standard in the machine. There was a problem. We weren't firing on all cylinders. And, if we didn't do something quick, we were facing the death of our engine. "Do whatever you have to," we pleaded. "Fix our engine."

The mechanic searched out the problem and discovered what was wrong. A rock -- as amazing as it might sound -- a rock had somehow gotten kicked up from the road and lodged itself between a sparkplug and the electronic fuel system, causing the engine to misfire. With all his skill, it took him over three hours to chip away at that rock. It seemed like the engine just wouldn't let it go. Chip after agonizing chip, but three hours later, the rock was gone and a brand new, bright and shiny sparkplug and repaired boot were in place. The engine hummed and purred like new.

What was damaged had been restored. What was missing had been replaced. All it took was a little humbleness and confession on our part that we knew something was wrong and that we were incapable of fixing it. And the loving and skillful hands of a great physician (mechanic) cured our van and brought new life out of an engine that many had written off as lost for good.