The Death Wobble...

I'm a jeep person. I love my '99 Wrangler and hope to drive her until the wheels come off. Well, over the past few months I've been expecting them to do just that every time the needle reaches 56 mph. It's at that moment that the steering wheel starts to shake back and forth, and ultimately crescendos into a loud, violent rattle that makes me feel like I'm riding on the back of this dog at the right. But, thank goodness its not a dog, it's a jeep. And, it's my method of transporting my son to school, myself to work, and my wife and I as we cruise with the top down. So, gotta get it fixed.

I started the research process on Google. I tried the phrases "Jeep shaking" and was immediately greeted by a ton of articles related to what Jeep Enthusiasts abhorrently refer to as 'THE DEATH WOBBLE'. I thought great, now I can find how some smart person cured it, but was I wrong. There is no cut and dry single root cause of the death wobble. I read articles that told me to everything from replacing the entire front end, to simply having the front tires balanced. So, since I'm a newly converted Dave Ramsey follower, I took the least expensive first and had the tires balanced. Guess what, the wobble went away almost completely and is hardly noticeable. Is it cured 100%? No, but the teeth jarring, wheels flying off fear is now gone. Will it come back? Probably, but it's only $10 to have the wheels balanced so I'll just budget in $40 a year to get this done.

Hmmmmm.... Ever had the Death Wobbles in your own life? Ever gone through a season were everything goes well and you may even be making a ton of progress and then it starts. Slowly at first, then building into a calamity of immense proportions that causes you to feel like your world is coming apart and you are about to crash because you feel like you just can't hang on!!! I know I have and I also know that Jesus himself said that the Christian would go through tough times, most of the time.

Many think that when you become a Christian, your troubles are over. Boy are they wrong. Following Christ is a dangerous thing to do. You will scrutinized, chastised, and maybe even punished for your faith. Even Jesus himself was punished just because he was Jesus. Think about it, Pontius Pilot told the crowd he couldn't find anything wrong with him and the next minute, he has him flogged!! But wait a minute, I thought he couldn't find anything wrong with him?

So, expect the death wobbles to come in your Christian walk. But, they are only temporary, and can't even compare with the incredible joy of salvation. Even in the worst of the worst times, and when it feels like the wheels are coming off, there really is JOY, JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY! It's worth it...