MindBlown DIY Model Engine Kit - Mechanic Four Cycle Internal Combustion Assembly Construction, Comes W/Valves, Cylinders, Hardware & Much More
My wife and I bought this as a gift for our eight-year-old son. ALL he talks about is engines, engines, and more engines. What better gift for a dad and son to work on together? In fact, our eleven-year-old got into the action as well. I’m not sure if we would have finished it without him—LOL! It was a cool little kit. It included a battery warning, a safety warning, assembly instructions, and all the components necessary to build a “mock” engine: lower crankcase, crankshaft, pistons, upper crankcase, cylinder heads, rocker arms with covers, timing wheel, belts, and covers. As well as covers, pullies, and manifolds. There were 21 separate steps in the assembly instructions. Things were seemingly going quite smoothly, the end was in sight until we got to step 18. Upon which I discovered we did step number five improperly. We accidentally installed the upper crankcase backward. Well! This one teeny, tiny little mishap would only affect the last few stages. Technically, I could almost “jimmy” it enough to sort of work—kind of—but not exactly. Standing back and looking from a distance you couldn’t really tell. Was it good enough? Was it worth the process, time, and effort to tear apart and almost start over? After all, do you realize how many tiny screws would have to be undone to fix it? Ugh! I couldn’t help but to feel this was one of those small, but valuable “dad” moments with a lesson to pass along to my two growing boys. Two boys that I would like to have developed within them the character of men. So, we made the grueling decision to tear it apart—tiny screw by tiny screw—piece by piece—all the way back to step five. If it’s worth doing, then do it right! With a team effort we fixed the issue, built it correctly all the way through to step 21 and sure enough the DIY model engine “roared” to life. Mission accomplished! But then my wife said something to me, and it struck me—there is a bigger lesson here! In fact, a lesson for Christians attempting to grow in the very character of God Almighty (Phil. 2:12-13). Is what we do and believe good enough? Is it okay to leave “doctrine 5” incorrect if the others are seemingly okay? Is it okay to “jimmy” our beliefs in an attempt to make it “kind of-sort of” work? God will probably understand the way I see it, we may reason. Is the way “I see it” close enough? Do the doctrines really matter all that much—is it really that important to get them all correct? It’s important that we all remember that a doctrine is a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church. A doctrine is a point of truth from God’s Word about the purpose and plan of God. Doctrines explain various aspects of our relationship to God (Hebrews 6:l-2). If one doctrine is “out of place,” then how many other aspects are incorrect? In his second epistle, John wrote, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (v9-11). The true doctrine of Christ is the whole truth—not partial truths—which He reveals through His Word (John 17:17). The doctrines build upon each other—they are linked. Unless every doctrine we believe fits perfectly and harmoniously into the whole of the doctrine of Jesus (as revealed in the Bible) as taught by His apostles—unless what we have learned only further serves to expound the whole plan of God—then it is not “truth,” but error.
Comments