Last week when I bought snow tires and wheels for Linda's car, we ran into an unexpected glitch, besides the lug nuts that I destroyed trying to remove them. When I removed the left rear wheel I discovered that the brakes needed to be replaced. In fact the pads were so far gone that the rotors were scored. Since we had only put 8,000 miles on the car since we bought it, we believe it never should have passed inspection. Last week we called the dealership, setting up an appointment for today. This morning we dropped the car off. Linda was determined and precise in her instructions: we expected them to make it right without cost to us...and they did!
When I picked it up just after noon, the service record indicated new brakes and rotors at no charge. It's a small blessing, but one that made today a little brighter, knowing our dealer has the integrity to correct the problem at his own expense. We live in a world where loyalty and integrity seem to be dwindling and people often cannot be trusted to do what is right unless forced into it by threat of lawsuit, yet it is precisely that trust that makes everything possible. If the person to whom I hand over my money cannot be trusted to provide the goods or services agreed upon, commerce even on a small scale comes skidding to a halt. If the couple standing at the altar cannot be trusted to keep the vows they make to "love, honor, comfort, and keep each other in sickness and health, forsaking all others," marriages disintegrate and families are destroyed.
It all comes down to whether or not we are people of our word. The Bible enjoins us not to take oaths, not because they are inherently evil, but because our word ought to be good even without calling down upon ourselves some imprecation if we fail to perform. I am grateful tonight not only for our dealer's integrity, but for the promises of God to never leave or forsake us, and to bring to completion the salvation he began in us through Christ. There are times when humanly speaking, it feels as if I am forsaken, and times when the goal seems so far away that I wonder how God will ever bring salvation to completion, but if I am able to trust in human integrity, God's is certainly good enough for me. How I feel at any moment is not the issue; God's promise and my willingness to trust in it always is. Years ago when as a teenager I taught Bible Club, we often recited a motto: "God said it; I believe it; that settles it." It still does.
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