Over the weekend I had the noble task of changing the oil and rotating the tires on my wife’s truck. Now an oil change is pretty straight forward, which is why it amazes me how many places will charge over $100 for $20 in oil and a $10 filter.
I do the same thing each time. I park the truck, set the parking brake, chock the wheels, and get it up in the air on jack stands. If I didn’t also rotate the tires, driving up on ramps would be enough, but I have a full service driveway.
While I still need to get an extender on my Daytona jack (need another 3-4 inches of lift and my hack of using lumber isn’t exactly OSHA compliant)… Once everything is up in the air, it’s simply a matter of getting under the truck with an oil drain pan and removing the bolt.
This was all complicated further by random gusts of wind that sent my tools (and the cardboard sheet I lay on under the truck) flying. Forgive me Lord for my language when I saw my socket set get scattered across the driveway.
So there I was, under the truck, and the bolt won’t move. 29 ft/lbs is what I torqued it to, per Honda’s specifications. Won’t budge. I proceed to get a grip on the wrench, jam my foot against the tire, and push with all my might only to have the bolt round off.
The socket wrench is now useless. I’m going to need a new drain plug as well as a tool to remove the rounded bolt… both things I currently lack. I go online and discover that the local O’Reilly has both available, so off I go. I get back about 45 minutes later to try again.
I couldn’t get extractor sockets because none of the kits had a 17mm option, so I got extractor inserts that slot into a standard box end wrench. The way this work is that they will bite in to the bolt and allow enough grip for torque to be applied and loosen the bolt.
Under the truck, I discover that my 17mm extractor requires a 19mm box end. Largest one I have is 18mm. That’s when I did what I should have done to begin with. I got out from under the truck, closed my eyes, bowed my head, and prayed.
It was a simple prayer. “Lord Jesus, I need you now. I need to get my wife’s truck fixed so she can get to school tomorrow. Please help me to get this job done. In your name I pray, amen.” So I got under the truck with a 17mm box end wrench and a soft-blow hammer.
I get the wrench on the bolt, and the first whack moved the bolt. The second whack loosened it more. I paused, praised the Lord for the help, and got the rest of the bolt out with my box end wrench. The wind fanning the oil all over my face and arm was just icing on the cake…
After that, the rest of the job went as smoothly as could be. I installed the new drain plug, torqued it to 29 ft/lbs, replaced the oil filter, rotated the tires, checked the brakes, replaced the cabin filter, checked the tires were properly inflated… Hallelujah, done!
16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
They don’t give a location in that verse, do they? May not seem possible to pray without ceasing, but God’s will for us in Christ Jesus was to have a constant conversation with Him. Doesn’t matter where, doesn’t matter when, doesn’t matter way. Your Father in Heaven wants to hear from you, help you, and love on you.
I’ve lost track of the number of times He has helped me in situations that to others seem completely innocuous, but after I bring Him into the situation, it gets resolved quickly. God is always faithful, He always delivers for our good and His glory. He wants us to reach out to him, we can always pray more. The standard is ceaseless.
So pray ceaselessly. Bring Him into your day, be blessed.