A dear friend recently had some trouble with his clutch fluid and it reminded me of an old Jeep I used to drive.

1985 CJ-7.  Not the best year or motor for Jeeps.  Mine had a leaky clutch fluid bowl.

For those of you fortunate enough to be unaware of this issue, here is the symptom:  The clutch stops working.

How to compensate:  Learn how to start vehicle while it is in gear.  Learn how to go the correct speed so as to avoid stopping at stop lights (because the constant starting in gear will seriously hurt your engine).  Learn to “slide” the vehicle from one gear to another without using the clutch at all (it is best to do this smoothly while you are on a date so you look like a hero instead of a tool).

All of this works really well UNTIL it doesn’t work.

(Ask my friend Scott Oldenburg about how much fun it is to be stuck in Corpus Christi.) (Ha, then ask him about that bet we made…)

You see the clutch is the coordinator, the mediator, between the engine and the drive shaft.  When the two don’t talk, bad things happen.  In the case of an ’85 Jeep, EVERYTHING seems to break at the same time.

The Jeep I drive today has a clutch that works all the time.  So the “drive” can always talk to the “power”.

I still have the ability, but how silly would I be if I never used the clutch?

God is certainly the power in my life.

My heart provides the drive.

Jesus is and always has been the Mediator.

Feel free to fill in the blanks…