Life happens. One minute you are driving down the road and the next you hear awful sounds and your truck won’t shift into high gear. What do you do? Life sometimes happens. You can limp your way to the destination, but alas your truck is no longer fit for travel. The next few phone calls are with transmission shops and mechanic shops and are filled with the frustration of what is in store. The auto shop finally calls back to tell you the cost of repair will be over $5,000. Woof. But, what do you do? Life happens. Better send it in and get it fixed, because you need transportation. 

Maybe we’re sugar-coating this too much. Life sometimes stinks. I don’t know your finances, but $5,000 is nothing to laugh over in most houses. $5,000 is a plans ruiner. I’m not sure what things are like in your house. But no matter what your portfolio looks like, every household has a plans-ruiner-amount. Sure, it might be much larger than some or it might be much smaller than some, but every house has one. If you are a money mogul and handle stacks in the hundreds of thousands range, then it might be more like $100,000 before you start sweating. If you’re a self-starting entrepreneur who catches and sells butterflies for a living who hasn’t seen a hundred dollars in months, then it might be $50 before you start losing sleep. Either way, every house, no matter the bank account, has an amount of money that causes a financial emergency. 

This lesson isn’t about money though. I want to consider: what do you do when the transmission quits? Do you bury yourself in sorrow and long for the sweet release of winning the lottery you never play? Do you languish away in self-pity and anguish of your hopelessness? Do you look around and envy the seeming success of others? How do you handle life when life happens? 

Maybe the transmission quits, the a/c goes out, your horse throws a shoe, you get kicked by a mule, or the dog bites your nosey neighbor Phil (ignore Phil). The point is, life happens and sometimes, life stinks. The Christian, instead of wallowing in “Doom, despair, and agony on me; deep dark depression, excessive misery,” turns in triumphant hope to Christ (yes, that was a Hee Haw reference). We are not living here alone, isolated from the blissful reality of eternity with God. The transmission quitting stinks. But, I find myself wondering how much will I think about that 2018 Chevrolet truck with a bad transmission while I’m shouting forth the praises of the great I AM, around His majestic throne, along with the heavenly beings and the faithful from all the ages.

While you sing praises to God, will you think about the year the a/c went out? Probably not. When you finally lay eyes on Him who dwells on the throne, will you still lament the time you lost your job? Nope. Eternity puts everything into perspective. 

When the transmission quits, remember eternity, remember King Jesus, remember the One Who dwells on the throne, remember “How beautiful heaven must be, Sweet home of the happy and free; Fair haven of rest for the weary, How beautiful heaven must be…”