August 30, 2023

I tried to replace a burned-out headlamp the other day. I watched 47 YouTube videos on how to replace this headlamp in this vehicle (slight exaggeration), bought the headlamp at an auto parts store and gave it a shot. I did not have that much time, so I gave up after about 25 minutes. A few days later, I decided to give it another shot. This time I watched 747 YouTube videos on it (another slight exaggeration). Seriously, how difficult can this be? I worked on it for 4 hours! I was determined to get it. The longer it took, the more stubborn I got. This was not going to beat me. But, after scraping most of the skin off my knuckles, I finally gave up.

Here was the problem. I could get the bad headlamp out. I could disconnect it from the power source. I could connect the new headlamp into the power source. I was also able to reset the new headlamp into the housing. However, I could not connect the new headlamp into the power source AND reset the new headlamp into the housing. The wire connecting the headlamp to the power source was 1/8” too short. I could do both independent of each other, I just couldn’t do them together. Having a headlamp connected but not in the housing was not going to work and having a headlamp in the housing but not connected didn’t work either.

Why was this like this? I was tempted to think that this was designed like this, so that people like me would HAVE to take the vehicle into the dealership and pay for them to do the replacement. I was having this conversation with a guy at an oil change place and he said so. But, did he really know that to be true? Maybe, I am just incompetent and cannot figure out another way to fix this.

The facts were clear. I was unable to change the headlamp because the cord was too short. What was not clear was the interpretation of the facts. Was the cord too short because of a design flaw, installation flaw, or a deliberate plan to frustrate people like me? I don’t know that. I can look at the facts, but in many cases, I cannot presume to be able to interpret the heart, or motivation behind the facts.

James 1.19 tells us to “be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” Our tendency is to be quick to assume, quick to presume, quick to assign blame, quick to assign motive, quick to judge, quick to draw conclusions and in so many cases, we really don’t know.

You may be in a conflict at the moment. Before you focus on what the other person has done, consider yourself. Have you been too quick in the categories you should be slow in and too slow in the ones you should be quick in? May the Lord use this to shine some fresh light on your situation. And yes, I finally got it fixed, but I had to get help.

Grace and peace,

Bob

Sunday’s Text: 2 Samuel 19.41-20.22