Dear friend,
When I was driving my friend home from the airport, something happened to the brake pads in my rear tire that made an awful noise. It scraped like I was crunching through icy snow, even though it was sixty degrees and sunny. Thankfully, God kept us safe all the way home.
But then I had a problem. What to do about the brakes?
The mechanic would be too expensive, and I’d watched my dad replace brake pads and rotors enough to know that it is a relatively easy job. The only problem would be if I could get the bolts on the caliper loose on my own. I’m not a particularly strong person, and I knew even my dad and brothers have had trouble with them before.
“But,” I thought to myself, “if I don’t try, I won’t have a car.” And besides, I’d have some pretty big bragging rights if I could fix the brakes on my own.
So I coughed up the money for the parts (and borrowed a few tools) over the course of a week. Then, on an evening that was dry and chilly, I pulled everything out and jacked up my car. I took the tire off, sprayed on some rust remover, and grabbed my socket wrench.
And I couldn’t do it.
Failing isn’t bad.
Something that my dad has always said is that you only fail if you don’t learn something, but it never really hit me until my handful of adult years. When you move away and have less parental backup, the thought of failing becomes a lot scarier.
But God’s been teaching me that failing isn’t a bad thing. It gives him an opportunity to do stuff that he wouldn’t be able to do unless I failed. When I am weak, God is strong. In my weakness, God can work to his glory and best advantage.
Throughout the week, I had many people encouraging me and offering me tools and help. When I didn’t have my car, my friends volunteered to drive me to my job, to church, to get the supplies I needed to fix my car. God reminded me that he would take care of me and provide for me, and that he didn’t just place my friends and church family in my life for me to show them love. He put them there to show me love to
In the end, my parents stopped by on their way to visit my brother and sister-in-law so that my dad could help me fix the brakes. I wasn’t able to fix the brakes on my own. But I learned some things about how brakes work. I learned (again) how beautiful the body of believers is, and that there’s a reason God put us in a community.
So don’t be afraid of failing.
Sincerely,
R. J. Catlin
P.S. When’s a time you failed, but God showed up? Tell me about it in the comments!
Great thoughts here. I had similar issue when my car headlights went out, and I had a first date that I really didn’t want to reschedule. A friend let me borrow their car to go on the date, showing me that God really does care about the things that I care about.
Isn’t God so good?