Good Stewardship

So in light of my post-before-last, I thought I'd share some internal debates I've been having on the subject.
Also, as an aside, epic fail at keeping my streak alive. Guess I jinxed it! Haha.

Anyhow, at a church service the following Sunday, our pastor, let's call him Brett (because that's his name), basically copied my idea! He spoke on Matthew 6, and discussed clothes & food, and other silly things we go around worrying about. He even justified, with a logically sound argument (in my opinion) why he dresses up to preach each week, but why he doesn't really care how we dress going to church. Which was awesome.

But I have been thinking about my car a lot lately. Those of you who know me well would be quick to point out that I really enjoy vehicles - whether it's cars, motorcycles (even planes & boats I guess), etc.  My last 3 cars have all been stick shift, and I have put some inordinate amount of money into making them go faster, and look shinier.  Which, all told, is completely pointless.

However, the justifying part of my brain wants to say...
"But Brian, you employ those people that makes those parts you buy, and they feed their families with that money! It's not like you're just setting that money on fire and throwing it off a bridge! (Fire marshals would be displeased, anyway) Plus, if you didn't use it on car parts, you'd just save it, and the government wouldn't get all those juicy taxes when you pay sales tax and the seller pays income tax and sales tax when they spend it in turn, etc! (that's called the money multiplier effect, 'M' in econ 101)..."
But in reality, I think I just like my car to make loud noises when I press on the accelerator, and for it to look nice. Which is really a pride thing I think; I like it when people look at my car and give me a thumbs up, or when they nod at me because they are a car enthusiast too.

I think that the main place I found joy in it at one point was installing the actual parts, and working with my dad in putting them in, but eventually it got warped into this narcissistic self-love... sad, I know. Plus the parts are actually worse for the environment and my fuel economy (incrementally), and probably attract more unwanted attention than wanted (people try to street race me all the time - I just have to not make eye contact).

That's why I decided to sell all of my aftermarket parts - it's called "parting out" in the modding community, and get my car back to stock.  Then I think I will sell it and get something more utilitarian - it's a V6 Coupe; not very efficient, and there is practically no legroom in the back.  It's a sad process because most of my mods will not go for even 50% what I paid form them just months ago, for some reason, and it's quite expensive to ship heavy stainless steel pipes around the country as well. Some of them are still unopened, too! But I really felt convicted after writing that post - it's something I've been struggling with for quite awhile.

In the future instead of spending thousands of dollars on car modifications, I will probably just save. Or maybe spend it on car-related things that are actually useful; like a trailer or safety features - things that will go to good use, and hopefully actually increase the resale value instead of decreasing it like racing mods do (people assume if you put these into your car you've treated it badly - revving past the redline, etc).

So thank you, dear readers, for helping me in this introspective journey that is actually leading to real change in my life. Tonight I meet with a fellow Accord enthusiast who wants to buy some pipes from the bottom of my car for $800. Thank goodness I kept the originals!

And thank God He is changing my heart - I want any hint of pride in me to be completely killed off.
We are told to take up our crosses daily, die to ourselves, and crucify our flesh. I'd be remiss if I didn't take those words seriously.

And in Matthew 6, which I mentioned earlier, we are told to Seek first His Kingdom... and not worry about these secondary things because He will take care of us. In being so focused on my car, I definitely was worrying about some pretty pointless stuff. This is a chance for me to realign and remind myself where I should be focusing.