Good Stewardship

Dad
April 24, 2003

11/79DO 2459

1. I THINK THIS CAR IS ANOTHER TEST FOR DON—BECAUSE HE BROKE IT! It's obvious he burned it up!—Because he himself, by his own confession, said that he left the starter switch on & it got red hot‚ which anybody who knows anything about a diesel ought to have known he shouldn't do!—And he was warned by the boys not to do it!

2. IT'S NOT JUST THE MONEY! God gave that car to him, & he should have valued it & considered it a BLESSING instead of a BURDEN & complaining about it constantly! That's probably why God let it break down, because he constantly complained about it & murmured about it & wasn't thankful for it! He didn't count his blessings.

3. HE'S TOO GOD-DAMNED SPOILED!—Spoiled rotten by those women & apparently by the people in the States & maybe even by the Lord! Well, we're going to get him unspoiled, & real fast, or we can't use him. He sounds just like that whole mob of the Chain, that's the way they were—used to rolling in dough & not appreciating things‚ like Rachel!

4. LET ME TELL YOU, WHEN I STARTED WORKING ON CARS, I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT'M‚ EXCEPT FROM JUST STANDING THERE WATCHING MECHANICS WORK ON THEM! But I LEARNED & I took two or three apart & put'm back together again, as little as I knew, & at least got'm running again because I was too damned poor to do anything else! I couldn't just expect somebody else to get it fixed or expect somebody else to throw enough money in my lap to get it fixed.—I went to work & worked hard & did it in my spare time & fixed it myself!—And that's something that guy needs to learn!

5. ONE REASON WE BROUGHT HIM HERE WAS BECAUSE OF HIS TALL BRAGGING ABOUT WHAT A SUPER-DUPER MECHANIC HE WAS, SO NOW HE'S GOING TO LEARN TO BE A DIESEL MECHANIC! He's going to go pay to get that car fixed himself with his own money, & he's going to stand there & watch! It's going to be worth the course in diesel mechanics for him to stand there & watch'm while they work, & see how they do it & what they do. He's telling us to throw away what it cost to buy the car because he doesn't want to be bothered with it! He either gets the car fixed or fixes it himself or we're through with him, period!

6. I'M SICK & FED-UP WITH HEARING HIS EXCUSES! I never heard a guy with so many excuses, even on his confession! It's very sweet & very humble—about as humble & as honest as he knows how—but he's in such a habit of justifying himself & excusing himself & blaming things on others, that even in his confession it keeps coming out: "Well, I know I did the wrong thing‚ but you know, Liz did this & that." It's the same old thing! You just don't break that kind of habit of years overnight.

7. SO THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE TRIALS GOD'S GOING TO GIVE HIM RIGHT NOW! He broke it, he fixes it!—And he pays for it, or he's through! If he wants to junk the car‚ he can junk it & take care of it himself. It's in his name & he'll be held responsible for it by the police if they find it any place where it ought not to be. If he wants to fix it, OK‚ then let him figure out how to get it out to his trailer & his yard & let it sit there & work on it. If he's such a genius of a mechanic, he can learn! I know I could if I had to, & I'm that fed-up with it!—I'm just about that fed-up with HIM!

8. I LEARNED A WHOLE LOT JUST BY WATCHING MECHANICS. I knew they didn't want to be bothered‚ they didn't even want to be watched, so I seldom ever talked to them or even asked them a question, because I knew they resented it. I just watched & kept my mouth shut & tried not to bother them.

9. HE'S A SMART-ALECK, A KNOW-IT–ALL! That's just typical of some people, you can't tell them anything. They have to learn the hard way, just like he's learning!—The idea of suggesting to us that he just throw an expensive car away & junk it!

10. THOSE DAMN AMERICANS DON'T KNOW THE VALUE OF MONEY OR MATERIALS OR ANYTHING! They are so damned spoiled, so used to having whatever they want, or wasting it! They're wasting the whole World! Rather than economise‚ they prefer to destroy the World! Rather than be unselfish & try to economise & help the World save, they'd rather blow it up!—Just like he wants to get rid of the car!

11. WELL, THAT BOY HAS GOT A FEW THINGS TO LEARN‚ & HE'D BETTER START LEARNING THEM NOW OR I'M THROUGH TRYING TO TRAIN HIM! You tell him the car is his & his worry, but that if he proves himself to be that poor a steward of what God gives him, we're not going to help him with one more penny—nothing! I'm not throwing away money on poor or wasteful stewards! t

12. HE'S GOING TO HAVE TO PROVE HIMSELF & HIS STEWARDSHIP & START REPENTING & STRAIGHTENING OUT & showing a whole new attitude toward life, & a good way to start is on that car that he himself destroyed! I don't need workers who come in & the first thing they do is break something that is valuable & good that we've given them—through their own carelessness & disobedience & being a smart-aleck, know-it-all, refusing to listen to warning advice!—And that's obviously how he did it! It never happened when anybody else was driving it.

13. I'M NOT ABOUT TO LET HIM JUST THROW THAT CAR AWAY! For God's sake, at least we'll get it fixed enough to be able to sell it or trade it in on something else if he doesn't want it, but we're not going to throw it away! I don't think God gave us the car for that purpose. It was running fine when we got it, I don't care how bad the body is. Don't tell me there's anything in this whole World that can't be fixed‚ unless wasteful people just destroy it & throw it away! Of course you can't fix it THEN!

(The following is Dad's written reply on Don's note:)

14. I'M AFRAID THINGS COME TOO EASY FOR YOU GUYS IN THE STATES!—Money, cars ,etc.—We don't throw away things just because they're OLD or BROKEN here.—We FIX'm! You mean you want to JUNK it?! ... Cars are not CHEAP here, especially DIESELS!—THAT one was a BARGAIN at about $2,000!—You're not in the CHEAP ol' U.S.A. any more!—Where they THROW AWAY cars & buy NEW ones!—Don't tell me to THROW AWAY that much money!—Or that that car can't be FIXED!—You Americans are SPOILED, Son!—We're not gonna WASTE God's money like THAT!—YOU BROKE it—you FIX it!—Or GET it fixed!—Or we'll not help you with another PENNY on getting another! It's YOUR CAR!—Another TEST of your STEWARDSHIP!!—Maybe you oughta get yourself a DIESEL BOOK & LEARN!

15. THE BOYS WARNED YOU SEVERAL TIMES NOT TO START THAT CAR THE WAY YOU DID‚ BUT YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN!—One of your PROBLEMS!—You're too SMART for your OWN GOOD, Son!—You don't know it ALL!—You'd better start LEARNING! GHU!—You get that car FIXED & WATCH'M while they FIX it & LEARN—or DO IT YOURSELF!—Sorry.—Mad Dad!