Wiper Blade Musings

I guess you’ve got to be smarter than the blade. For some reason I cannot figure out how to get my new wiper blade put on the arm correctly. Maybe I’m not the sharpest crayon in the box. I just hope it doesn’t rain soon.

The last time it rained I couldn’t help but notice that the wipers weren’t doing their job very well. At least on the driver’s side, right in the middle of my line of sight, of course. Why is it never the passenger’s side blade that goes bad, way up toward the top of the windshield, or maybe down low, where it doesn’t effect your vision?

So I’m driving during our last big rain and I’m hunching down in the seat as much as I can to try to get better visibility. That gets pretty uncomfortable after a while. Then I try to sit up as straight and tall as I can to look over the streak that’s left blurry by the faulty wiper, but that’s not easy either.

Finally I pulled into O’Reilly’s and bought a new blade. Since it was still raining pretty hard I didn’t bother trying to install it right then. Now, my wife tells me that when she’s gone in before to buy a new wiper blade, they put it on for her right then and there! They didn’t even ask me if I would like for them to install it. Probably because it was raining. Or maybe because they figure guys ought to know how to install a stupid wiper blade by themselves!

Well, I’ve got some news for O’Reilly’s. Some guys don’t! And I’m one of them!

Come to think of it, there are quite a lot of household projects and automotive and lawnmower repair jobs that I’m not real adept at handling. Amy’s pretty well figured out after 16 plus years of marriage that if it needs fixing, she’s better off asking my 10-year-old son to do it than me. Otherwise it might just have to wait until one of our dads comes down for a visit. We usually seem to stockpile a list of things for them to do while they’re here. Or if the need is urgent, we have a handy neighbor and a couple of skilled laborers in the church who generously come to our rescue.

So I admit there are some things I’m just not good at. And this article lacks sufficient space to fully exegete that truth! But there is one thing that I hope to do well: To live a Christ-like life and to preach a Christ-centered gospel. OK, that’s two. I’m not much good at math, either.

I may not know how to put on a new wiper blade, but I want to know how to live a Christ-like life. I want to know how to “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24). I want to know how to “put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (Col. 3:14).

I may not know how to put on a new belt for my lawnmower, but I want to know how to “Put on the full armor of God so that [I] can take [my] stand against the devil’s schemes” (Eph. 6:11). I want to know how to “put on the armor of light” (Rom. 13:12) and “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14).

And I want to know how to preach a Christ-centered gospel. The apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth describes his ministry like this: “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-2). That’s the kind of “know nothing” I want to be! If the only thing I know well is the story of Jesus Christ and His crucifixion for our sins and His resurrection victory over the grave, so be it.

So, the message is clear: let your wife take the car in to get a new wiper blade!

But the real message is clearer: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). This past Sunday we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross provides forgiveness for our sins, and whose resurrection provides the promise of everlasting life. The promise is for “whosoever believeth in Him.” Does your life reflect a heart that’s believing in Jesus?