PRINCIPLE: “When you’re going round and round, getting nowhere, remember your pin.”
The van was new, just a few weeks old. It was an Econoline Van, perfect for our family of five, for anticipated years of hauling stuff to and from the college campus, and for pulling our camping trailer. We were loving it. Early one Sunday morning I drove up 131 from Kentwood (where we lived) to our church near downtown Grand Rapids – a trip I made numerous times each week. I pulled into the parking lot of the church and started to back into a parking space. I turned the steering wheel to straighten in between the lines and nothing happened. In fact, the steering wheel just kept going round and round. It was impossible to turn. I just backed in as best I could and went about the business of Sunday morning. After church I rode home with Barb in our other car. Monday I called the car dealership and the van was towed for repair.
The verdict? One of the main pins that held the steering column to the axles was missing. In fact, it appeared it had never been put in – which means we had been driving it around all those weeks with no pin. It was a miracle things held together all those miles on the highway in the middle of rush hour. It made for some scary thoughts as we considered all the possible scenarios of what could have happened. We were convinced that with the pin gone, God held it all together. He was the pin.
I realize now that God was teaching us a lesson: “When you’re going round and round, getting nowhere, remember your pin.” I shudder to think how many times in my life I went round and round and getting nowhere. If only I had stopped and remembered my pin, the One who holds it all together. The apostle Paul put it poignantly in Colossians 1:16-17. “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Jesus Christ is the pin that holds everything together. Only in Him can I steer safely through life. So “When you’re going round and round, getting nowhere, remember your pin.”
I invite you today to pray. “Lord Jesus Christ, it is important that we focus on you, for our lives spring from and revolve around You. This is good because in You all things hold together.
Sometimes we feel our personal world and life is falling apart – but in You all things hold together. You work all things together for good for those who love You.
Sometimes we feel lost, confused by all the directions and lures of the world around us – but in You all things hold together. You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Sometimes we feel all alone – but in You all things hold together. You have promised that You will never leave us or forsake; You will not leaves us as orphans.
Sometimes we hurriedly go round and round, getting nowhere fast. But in You all things hold together. You are the pin that keeps the steering wheel of our lives intact and functioning correctly and safely.
Sometimes we feel unloved – but in You all things hold together. You so loved us that You died for us.
Sometimes we feel abused – but in You all things hold together. For our sakes you were despised and rejected.
Sometimes we are ill, in body, mind, or soul – but in You all things hold together. By your stripes we have been healed.
Thank you, Lord, for pinning my life together. Amen.”
“When you’re going round and round, getting nowhere, remember your pin.”