Hello,
My wife and I bought a brand new gas stove and had it installed in our
house. When we turned it on, we
were quick to surmise that something was wrong. Eight inch flames were shooting out of the burners…a bit
more heat than we would need to boil water! So, I called the place from which we bought it and was told
it would be best for me to call the manufacturer….ah….”hold on” the salesman
said, I’ll get the installer to come up and look at it and see if he can adjust
it.” True to his word, the
installer showed up and took to adjusting our stove, albeit
unsuccessfully. “You’ll have to
call the manufacturers and have their service people come out and adjust it.”
So, I did. After passing
through a maze of machine spoken options, I finally made my way to the phone of
a very polite woman. I explained
my situation to her, and she said, “Sir, I can send out our technicians, but I
have to tell you that they do not deal with installation problems. If they determine it has not been
installed correctly they will not do anything, but they will bill you for the
service call.”
I interrupted her to say, “But that is the problem. The installers tried to fix it and were
unable.”
“I am sorry sir,” she said, “but our technicians do not deal with
installation problems?”
After a series of going back and forth, me trying to more clearly say
what I thought was already clear – that my installers were unable to get the
stove to work right – and she, also trying to explain to me what was already in
her mind clearly said – that her technicians did not deal with installation
problems… I said to her, “seems like a big run around to me, who is going to
fix my stove?” “The installers,”
she said. “But….they can’t. Who is going to fix my stove?” “The installers will have to find
someone to install it correctly.”
So, with my patience coming to an end, and my stove still unworking with
no one in sight to fix it, I called the store from which we purchased it, told
them of my encounter with the manufacturer, and said, “I’m putting this in your
court.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he said.
I hope so.
Here’s some good news, though: if you call on Jesus, he doesn’t care
what your problem is….he will come and attend to it. Jesus doesn’t care if something that is tearing you apart feels like an
installation problem – an addiction, a weakness, a hatred. Jesus doesn’t care if the fire that is
burning you up is a fire that you have foolishly stepped into – a lie, a
failure, a broken promise. Jesus
doesn’t care if you are tormented
by the world around you: uncaring bosses, neverending expectations, eyes of judgment and condemnation. If you call on Jesus, he will attend to
your problem. No matter what. You don’t have to get yourself fixed
enough…good enough…right enough.
If you call on Jesus, he will attend to you…no matter what.
That goes for coming to church, too. The church isn’t for people who are “installed right”,
“working good enough”, or even trying hard to work right. So, if there’s an empty hole in your
life. If things just aren’t
working right between you and God.
If you find that you tend to blunder your way through life, hurting the
people you love the most….if you are like a stove that is bursting eight inch
flames from your burner, there’s a place that you won’t find yourself in a big
run around. It is at church where
Jesus promises to attend to all those who call upon them….just as they are….and
make things right.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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