Christian Car Guy - Cost Of Not Following Directions & The Joy Of The Prodigal

This is Darren Kuhn with the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we search the ancient paths to find ways that God brings light into a dark world and helps set men free from the struggles that we all face on a day-to-day basis. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it. Share it.

But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. If there were no directions. Directions?

Gee, no. As you can see, Goofy, everybody needs directions sometimes. Welcome to the Christian Car Guy Radio Show. I say this calls for action and now, nip it in the bud. Nip it in the bud. You got to nip it in the bud. I've been trying to put my finger on the title of this show.

What finger would that be? I got a new hedge trimmer, Jerry. I did.

Works well, doesn't it? Don't cut through anything. And being, you know, the somewhat, you know, reliable person, I decided to, you know, they have all these warnings and I read them very carefully. I actually did.

Nobody believe it, but I did. And one of the warnings that said very clearly, couldn't have been more clear, is keep both hands on the handle of the hedge trimmer at all times. I wonder what would happen if you didn't do that. And at the time, I thought, well, that makes good sense.

You know, that does, because if your hands are there behind the guards, there's no way they can get hurt. That would be good. So, you know, two hours later, as we're trimming, trimming, trimming, and there was this really high high is one of those tall, skinny bushes. And I said, you know, I need to put the really clean, you know, top on that where I'm just going to do that. And so naturally, I can't reach that high with two hands. And so what do I do, Jerry? What did that direction say? Let me thank you. Do I go get a safety ladder or something?

No, no, no, no. I reach with my one hand and then it just didn't look quite right. So I went to put the other hand up there to try to get it even.

And boy, before you could hardly think, you know, there was my little finger. So I ended up with a trip to the hospital. And all of a sudden, my lesson plan for the week became healing because this really hurt. I'm going to tell you, it was not unpainful. I won't go into the gory details of all that took place, but I will tell you that it hurt. I can imagine. So I put my finger on this title of, hey, the cost of not following directions and the joy of the prodigal.

So as you might imagine, there's a lot of places this applies to the car business, especially if you're repairing your own car. So Jerry and I have been working on a little bit of a list of things that might be helpful to you so you don't end up looking like Robbie's hand here or worse. But also, there's a spiritual lesson here that's just really just unbelievable. So the thing that I haven't really told a lot of people is that when this happened to me, I almost immediately knew it was an attack from the enemy and specifically what he was getting at.

Because what had happened, and like all my stories, it's a bit complicated. But anyway, I was at a boot camp last summer and a friend of ours, you know, we came to pray that night for the people over the camp and all this and he walks in with his guitar and he goes, well, I need to break an agreement, meaning he didn't made an agreement with Satan that I really can't play the guitar and I can't sing. You know, because I heard years ago people said that I wasn't good and so I never want to get out in front of anybody and sing and play.

But I really want to break this agreement and I want to do that in front of you guys. And so my friend Jim Bericke gets out there and I mean, he was like, wowzers. Yeah, that's an agreement you need to break because he really can play and sing. And as I was watching him do that, I was like, oh, well, I play the guitar and actually used to play at weddings and all sorts of stuff. A lot of people would ask me to play, write songs for them, et cetera. But somebody told me I wasn't very good long ago and I put the guitar away and sometimes my kids would get me to get it out.

But I wouldn't. Well, when Jim did that at the boot camp, I said, well, I need to break this agreement. And I had wanted to play the tune, well, actually the piece, Classical Gas since I was a little kid, and I knew some of it, but I wanted to play the rest of it. Well, if you ever see or watch somebody play that, it's pretty involved. But one of the things it involves is your left little finger constantly because most of the chorus is played with your little finger. And so I've been practicing literally for, you know, the Sunday before I cut my finger, it was like maybe 10 hours I had practiced getting my little finger strong enough to play this song. And so the very second I am pulling down my hand from being, you know, whacked by the hedge trimmer, I'm like, you did it, didn't you? You know, I know exactly why you went for that finger and I know exactly what, you know, what all this is about.

And my wife, of course, has taken me to the hospital shortly thereafter. You know, you can picture this scene and Robbie's going, how am I going to be so stupid? How could I be so stupid? And she goes, why are you so mad at yourself? I said, because I'm not going to be able to play Classical Gas at the boot camp that I promised myself. She goes, so you're upset about a song.

You're not upset about your finger. I said, no, I've just, you know, I could just, because what it did for my heart, you see, my heart was set on, you know, this adventure I'm going with God. And I don't know if you do this, but John Eldridge teaches us, it's very, very helpful to ask Jesus to catch your heart when something like this is happening.

It's like something's happening that was really designed to break your heart and to discourage you from something that you felt you were called to do. And so I started to pray. Jesus, catch my heart. Catch my heart.

And so the next morning, as I would get up and begin my time, all of a sudden I began to say, what do I need? And Jesus told me, healing is what you need. Not just healing of your little finger, which clearly, you know, if you heard last week's show, it's wrapped up like a little blanket and all that stuff.

And they bound up the broken finger and they, you know, they're setting the captives free. But he was telling me, let's look deeply at this word, heal. And you may know that you may have heard that one of the names of God is Jehovah Rapha. And that word rapha is the word heal in Hebrew. But I want to pay particular attention to the middle letter of that rapha. So it's the pH sound that we would usually use as an F. And that word is actually called a pay in Hebrew. That letter is called a pay in Hebrew. And that letter looks very much like the mouth of God. And if you go to christiancarguy.com, I have a picture of my finger. You can see that in the bandage. And you can see a picture of the pay, which is critical to this understanding of healing.

Okay? Because inside of that letter, pay, well, when you look at the outside of it, it looks like a mouth. And it really is God's mouth. It literally means that in Hebrew. But inside of that letter is a bet. And that bet, that letter in Hebrew, it's the second letter of their alphabet, is the letter that starts the Torah. And the Jews teach, and I believe it's completely true, that when God spoke the world into existence, that through his mouth now, he was creating a home where he could go sit down and put his feet up and all this stuff.

And that is why the pay has inside of it a bet. Okay? And so when you think of the prodigal, right, he needed healing. He was out there in the pigsty. Right? And what happened to his heart when he needed healing?

He needed to seek the Father's face, and he needed to go home. Okay? So when you look at that pH sound in the middle of this word, healing, you see, you begin to see this, wow, my heart is yearning to see God's face, and it's yearning to come home.

Okay? And in that yearning, right, if you think about 2 Chronicles 7, 14, if you will, right, turn from your good ways, seek my face, and I will heal your land. Well, you know, turning our eyes off of ourselves and onto looking for God's face is an amazing kind of healing. And then we're going to talk more about that. We've got more stupid human tricks we're going to talk about. And things that we've seen that might help you out. And how about your story? Your stupid human trick that you didn't follow the directions. 866-348-7884.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Have you ever thought what the world would be like if there were no directions? Directions?

Gee, no. As you can see, Goofy, everybody needs directions sometimes. Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged. Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.

Bring your hand back, Robbie, bring it back. I've been trying to put my finger on this title of this show for a week. And the cost of not following directions and the joy of the prodigal is the name of today's show. I know it's a little wordy, but it kind of all comes together. And, you know, during the break, Beth Ann, my wonderful producers said, Robbie, you need to tell them this isn't just a little boo-boo on your finger. There's this severing of the bone kind of thing, that like open fracture that really freaks out doctors and all sorts of stuff that actually took place on Monday night. So, you know, I do have more than just a boo-boo. That's what you call a big boo-boo. And as Jerry pointed out, sometimes when we don't follow directions, God allows us to wallow in the, you know, like the prodigal son.

Like, you know, you got to eat some pig pods. You got to get a full feel of what this is in order for, you know, and I love the line in the prodigal story. It just hits me all the time. There's a point where he came to his senses.

That actually is the word teshuva, if you were to back it into Hebrew. And the idea is, okay, believe me, I shot off my thumb with a crossbow, and this time, you know, not following directions, and now I've about pruned my finger. And for the first few seconds, you don't feel it, Jerry. I mean, I didn't, you know, I knew we were in deep trouble, but I didn't feel it.

But in about 15 seconds, all of a sudden, I was like, wowzers. I mean, this thing hurts. And of course, it still hurts to write this minute ever since the accident. But the point is, is that at some point, you come to your senses, and my senses are saying, you need to do something drastic right this minute. You need to get a towel. You need to, you know, stop the bleeding, you know, all this stuff that's going on. You need to go to the hospital.

You know, you need a doctor. And fortunately, God gave us senses in order for us to come to our senses and then return, right, because that's the idea. Yeah, you know, and I think about the prodigal son story. I mean, just think how the trajectory of that story had. Once he had spent all that wealth, and once he had lost everything, the father heard that and sent servants and messengers to say, come home, son. I know now you're broke. You have nowhere to turn.

Come back home. What would be the story then? It would have been no story. There would have been no change. There would have been no showing grace. Instead, Father allowed him to waller until he finally came to his senses.

Right, right. And he had to make the decision to turn and to return, which is to get back, you know, to where you once belonged. And that's the beautiful picture that we're illustrating today, we hope, on the Christian Car Guy show. And of course, this show is live, and so we would love your story of where God allowed you to waller, okay, in the pig's lap, whatever that felt like or looked like in order to make whatever impression on you so that you could begin to see.

And so I clearly see, I really do, that God allowed me the pain of this experience in order to impact me with something that he wants me to do. And I'm not going to reveal all that just yet, but we are as time goes on, Jerry. But meanwhile, we do want to say there are some stupid human tricks we would like you not to attempt on a car, okay?

And some of these you just may not be aware of, but I want you to be aware of. So you decide, gee, I need to work on my ignition switch, or I need to work on something on the steering column, my horn button, anything like that, you decide in your steering area that you want to work on something, okay? Warning, warning, Will Robinson, disconnect your battery.

Yeah, anything that has electrical, well, even if it's what you're working on, doesn't have electrical current, anything to get to it where you may end up shorting something out because you know what, it happens a lot. Yeah, because there are sensors for the airbags there, okay? And if you trick the wrong thing when you're in the steering column of your car, well, you think it was just an ignition switch you were going to replace, next thing you know, you fire the airbag off and it hits you in a place that you weren't supposed to be hit. You know, you weren't wearing your seatbelt and all this stuff. There's all sorts of little booby traps that Satan would love to show you so you can waller like Robbie. Well, you don't want to waller like Robbie, you want to follow the directions, which, you know, anybody who's going to tell you anything about replacing ignition switch or doing something on a steering column, the first thing they're going to tell you, and I agree, anything electrical, disconnect the battery, it's so simple.

You could take the negative cable off, the positive cable off, and put it somewhere, tape it over so that it can't touch positively, and away you go, you can't booby trap yourself. Yeah, just being safe, and as you talked about following directions with our cars and in the automotive industry, even mechanical shops and body shops and service centers, you know, they need to make sure they know what the warnings are and procedures on things because back when Ford came out with a magnesium radiator support, you know, the old way of doing it, you meg weld it and you, well, if you know anything about magnesium, it goes up in flames pretty quick. There were cars and vehicles in the Ford F-150s that were burnt because of not following the proper procedures. The warnings were out there. But, you know, in the towing industry, when BMW first came out with some of the hybrid cars, and with all the new electronics and stuff, you had to undo the negative cable before you jump-start them, or it would fry the computer system on them.

I mean, it would do thousands of dollars damage. Well, people, individuals were not following those directions in which they should have been looking at an owner's manual, but also people were calling out towing companies that should know, and they were doing the same thing because they didn't follow and look to see what the instructions were and what the hazards were. There was an owner's manual that, wow. And something as simple as just jacking your car up, oh my gosh, you don't realize that when you lift up the drive wheels, you now have a freewheeling vehicle, and if there isn't something that's behind the rear wheel that could cause your car, it will just roll right off the jack. And there are tons of accidents where people are physically hurting themselves because they're just not following that simple, instead of putting a block of wood in the front, you know. The simple thing is just knowing to follow the directions.

Boy, it's just like life, if we follow the directions. Oh, you know, you got that story. You got to call us. 866-348-7884. I would love to hear when you didn't follow the directions. It doesn't have to be about a car. We would love to hear the story.

866-348-7884. Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged. Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.

Get back, JoJo. Well, today's show, right? The cost of not following directions and the joy of the prodigal. And so for those who know me well know that I really resemble Goofy in a lot of ways as the voice of Danny Dipstick, I'm just telling you that sometimes I can't get this stuff straight with these directions. And so, my family… How are you revealing this? So you may wonder, you know, yeah, that's kind of how that goes. But there is a cost to not following directions, but there is also a joy that God has got a healing for you as you seek his face. And we've got a lot more on that.

We've got some more ideas of things that we don't want you to do to follow directions with your car. But we also have Sarah Linda is in Port Washington. Like, wow. And she's got a story for us. Good morning, Sarah Linda. How are you? Well, I actually am doing very well above the circumstances.

Because we have to be above the circumstances when they could get you down. Oh, that's true. Right?

Yes. And I've just been trying to find a way to begin my story about a valiant Erica. My granddaughter went home to be with the Lord last week. And we had the services. And she was, that was a valiant, a long effort to stop the leukemia. But you know, the leukemia, I didn't understand that it was, what it was, it was the white blood cells that protect the body and help the things go right in your body. And they go rogue. And that's what's been happening with the state that was in Seattle and other places.

And then they attack the good white cells, which are ours to protecting the body. And there was the mighty battle. Anyway, she, we, and I just saw that what you were saying about we have to come to our senses, our following the Lord and His ways. And I just tried to write down as quick as I could what you were telling about that Ford 5150, I think you said. And we can't have the old ways of doing it, but we just have to really follow the, use the owner's manual in our hearts to, to come and come and do what's right.

But, well, I'm just trying to write it all out because that, you know, I'm that old model, model T Ford 1927 model. But, you know, where we have to use that, we have to really get in direct contact with the Lord nowadays. And because He's working in, in, in a special way in our lives.

And so I, that spirit of lawlessness that doesn't follow directions, and we're seeing the result of it. So we need to really get on board with, with the, with the, get on board with the program with the Lord. Oh yeah. And I, you know, we've prayed for, is Erica right? Wasn't her name? Yes, Erica, E-R-I-K-A. We prayed for her, you know, for actually a number of months. And I'm always so grateful that she called in and gave us the updates.

Yes. You know, I, as I was actually thinking about this, Sarah Linda, the, you know, because I, like, the infection from the wound in my finger started actually getting into some old wounds that I have in my leg and stuff from when I was crushed in the grape jeep and my leg started swelling up, like my finger was swelling up. And I thought, oh my goodness, I might be getting septic and this could be the big one. And, and then all of a sudden I felt, you know, because I was really looking at this word heal, and it was like, well, if I'm in God's presence, if I'm seeing his face, then I'm healed. Right?

I'm healed whether my body is healed or not. Yes. And so I'm praying that for your family because I know right now they're all, they've been, they've had a horrible severing.

They've got a dear, dear, dear loved one, especially her fiancé. Did you tell me? Oh, yes. And, and we're, we're going, I'm going to give him, they didn't get the chance to. Anyway, I'm giving him my wedding ring, my, well, anyway, I'm giving him my husband's wedding ring and my, one that my husband gave me with the diamonds in it to keep because they, but you know, we're, we're, you see, we're still, we're still moving on here, but I know where she is and I got a real glimpse of her, just the welcome, just a little glance. And she's keeping, she's keeping on and you know, she's dancing with the Lord. You know, he's the Lord of the dance.

Yes, he is. And there's, I know where she is, but also we are keeping on and, well, we have that in our hearts and it's amazing that I'm so grateful for, I woke up this morning and I got, you know, you're in your program and when you started that, I just, I've been right, I wrote down as much as I could about the, about that new Ford 550. The old way. Yeah, that burned up, Jerry knew that, I had never knew that, but that's beautiful. And, and I just can't tell you how much we appreciate, we really do. You're, you're staying so close to us and allowing us, you know, the courage of calling today and sharing with us what's really going on and a chance to pray into, so let's just pray right now.

Is that okay? Jesus, we don't understand. We really don't. And these losses are hard and they hurt, they hurt terribly. And we thank you for Erica's homecoming. We thank you, she's there with you and with Sarah Linda's husband. But we pray for... Ed Scott. Ed Scott, yeah.

Yeah. And we pray for... He stood so valiantly there, he's a precious young man. We pray for him. And his family love the Lord very deeply still.

Yes, and we pray for all her family, that you would comfort them, as only you can comfort them with your presence. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. Thank you Sarah Linda, God bless. God bless you and keep on steering in the right direction.

I've tried to follow directions. Thank you Sarah Linda, God bless. God bless.

So Jerry, you come up, that's tough stuff right there, that just is. But I'm so grateful for listeners like Sarah Linda, and we have lots and lots of them. And I mean, for many people we share bad news, but no, I was sharing great news. I mean, sad and heartbroken for her and her family to lose Erica on this side of heaven, but also you have to rejoice in knowing, hey, she went home and got a new address, and that's with our Lord and Savior. Here on earth, I know, I had a good friend of mine, his mother just passed away last night and told him the same thing. You know, took her last breath, which she struggled last night taking, and had no problem, the next breath was in heaven, and wow, is there power in that, is there comfort in that? Absolutely.

And because she, you know, eventually returned home. You know, that is the deal. And you know, all things are going to be made new. I mean, that's the promise.

And as he actually heals our land, for real, and he actually makes all these things brand new, we can rejoice that we will be, too, with the Lord at the dance at some point in time. So we got some other things. We want to make sure that people are aware of, you know, from a stand, as a tow company, you come up upon people all the time that have done some things that you're like, oh, if you just looked in your owner's manual, you would have.

Is there another one that comes to mind? Yeah, we've talked about the jump starting for one thing, but then also just people don't realize, you know, even if you look at the owner's manual, they tell you don't stick something inside your door. Now with these new cars, these airbags and stuff, they're sticking clothes hangers in it, shorting out airbags, shorting out electrical systems. Yeah, like you've locked your keys in your car, so you're going to stick a coat hanger down there.

Yeah, not a good idea. Ka-blammo. So we've got a lot more Christian Car Guys show coming up. Stay tuned. So today on the Christian Car Guys show, the cost of not following directions and the joy of the prodigal, but before we go much further than that, I just want you to think about what you just heard in that song. Like, have you ever come to the point with God at some point that you felt like you were trying to swallow the ocean?

I just love, I mean, it's just a line, like, oh my goodness. And I actually have an experience of me trying to swallow the ocean here I'm going to get to in a minute, but I need to mention that coming up at 1 o'clock on the Truth Network, we have Amy Cabo show The Cure, and she's got the producer of the movie Against the Tide, and they're going to be talking Science and Faith, which is a live show, comes on 1 o'clock across the Truth Network with Amy and Boris Cabo, just a wonderful, delightful show. Your chance to call in to that show as well. We love doing live shows here on the Truth Network.

So, 1 o'clock Eastern on The Cure. So, Jerry, interestingly, as I was, I can't get this, anytime I think about seeing God's face, something happened to me before I did the Christian Car Guys show years and years and years ago that I hold close to my heart, like my testimony, like in my bosom, that I will never, ever, ever forget, and what it was is I was praying one night in 2006 about a lot of things that had nothing to do with what happened. I mean, I was praying. I had all these things on my heart that I thought were really, really important, which now none of them, I have it all written in my journal, and none of them ended up being anything that was of any importance, except what happened that night was Jesus showed up and says to me, Robbie, what do you want? And the way he showed up, I don't know if you've ever had this happen, but it was like you're going to swallow the ocean.

I like fell on my face because it was terrifying. It was like I've never had been in prayer where Jesus showed up and scared me, but this was like, what do you want? And it was like, oh my gosh, he's here, and he really wants to know what I want, and oh my gosh, you know, this is what's going on. And I glibly answered because it didn't even, you know, it just shocked me so bad. I was like, well, I just want to serve you. And he says, do you?

And the way he said it, there was no condemnation in it, but it was, it was a question, do you? And as he said it, these things started to flash through my mind at like, they say your life is going to appear before your face. Well, guess what?

Apparently they keep records because all these incidents started flashing through my mind and the lightning speed, like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Every single one of them was an impression that he'd given me to call somebody, write a letter, go have lunch, reach out and touch a friend that you hadn't seen in whatever period of time. And it was so cool that I was like, oh, I can do this.

I don't have to go to Africa. This is what you want me to do? This, you wanted me to call Ray Frick? You wanted me to do this? And so I jump up and I get a piece of paper. I start writing all these things down because they're fresh in my memory because I just saw a hundred of them. You know, it was like, you know, they're just like file cards like, did you want to serve me?

And all these things were simply the directions that he gave, you know, to his disciples, love one another. Okay. It's just that simple. It was just that simple. And so I was just like, oh, I repent.

You know, it was like the prodigal. Like I'd been, I was like, oh, goody, I get to go home and have a steak dinner with dad. I mean, I can see what I need to do.

I can do this stuff. And so I lay back in bed and I was just like, just repenting and enjoying that. All of a sudden I start to see this glow, this phenomenal golden glow that I will never, ever, ever forget. In fact, I get to see it anytime I close my eyes to this day. And it was his glory.

And it starts to show up in the bedroom. And the next thing I knew, I, something in my spirit that I did not know was there starts screaming. You're going to see his face. You're going to see his face. And I was like, oh my goodness, I'm going to see his face. I'm going to see his face. I'm going to see his face. And I was like, there was something down inside me.

I didn't know it was. And I was just totally screaming. You're going to see his face. I woke Tammy up. Tammy, I'm going to see his face. And she didn't go for that a lot. She didn't want to see your face for sure. And it's like, unfortunately, you know, I got to see his glory, but I did not get to really see his face the way I was hoping to.

But I did get to see more than I've ever seen before since. And as I laid back my head on the pillow, he gave me this understanding that I want you to have. Because I think he gave it to me so I could give it to you, listening right now. Deep inside of you. Because the question he asked me is, Robbie, what do you want?

It was a rhetorical question. He was going to show me what I wanted. He knew what I wanted. I did not know what I wanted. And I believe with all my heart, every single person listening to my voice, there is something down inside of you that is screaming to see his face. And that is why in the middle of Jehovah Rapha is a pain that is his mouth. It's his face that is saying, come home.

Come home. We think we know what we want. Sometimes I'm praying and praying because I think I know what I want. And I think I know what God wants for me. But sometimes I have to surrender it all and say, God, maybe I don't know anything.

Maybe what I'm wanting has nothing to do with you or nothing to do with what I need to be doing. And that's sort of that point. And I love what you said, you know, so much hinges on love. Because that's what Christ's message was, is love. And the love that we show others should be generated through Jesus Christ. If we share that love, man, that sure can right a lot of wrongs. That can sure heal a lot of broken hearts.

That can sure heal a lot of social unrest and political unrest. You know, God just is pretty simple. It's the gospel.

If we just break it down to that, man, life gets a whole lot less complicated. And talk about Erica just a moment ago and someone as they leave this life, you know what, when they have hope in Jesus Christ, man, it's sad. But man, we can't help but celebrate. Because as you said, God said, you're going to see my face. That's our Lord and Savior's desire. And we're not going to see his face on this side of heaven. We're going to feel his warmth and his grace. But seeing his face is that reward we're going to get. Yeah, and I know that it's built inside.

It's like Prego spaghetti sauce that's in there. And every single person is just this like screaming thing that that's the real healing, you know, that is coming. And I just marveled in it all week. I marveled in how he caught my heart through the whole thing with a guitar and all the other stuff, you know, and all the prayers. Because, you know, I'm surrounded by some amazing people that have been praying for me and I've felt that. And so, you know, it's a really fun thing that even though we don't necessarily follow directions, right?

We still get a chance to get back to where we once belong. Yeah, this is Christian car guys. And so one thing I always say, you know, the best thing we have with our vehicle, the best equipment that was given to us with our automobiles open up that glove box and we got an owner's manual.

That's going to allow us to enjoy that vehicle. But also in life, we have that same owner's manual. We just got to open up that book that a lot of us just have on the end of a coffee table. That's that's God's word, the Bible, and just look and say, OK, God, what's my direction? That's perfect.

Absolutely. Well, again, I am so grateful that you listen today, the Christian Car Guys show. And we ask that you remember the Jesus labor love, right? Car repair labor for single moms and widows, families in Christ. It's all there at ChristianCarguy.com. And as I always say, right, slow down, read the directions. Jesus got it all done in 33 years. Thank you for listening. Robbie, thank you for all you do and the difference you make in a lot of people's lives.