The Mystery is Solved!

Mysteries! I love solving mysteries.

Friday we solved a mystery that had been bugging us for months. Our 2004 Toyota had a rough shimmy out on the highway that we experienced only for a mile or two soon after entering the freeway. Sometimes the steering wheel would shake so badly it felt as if the front end were going to fall to pieces. After a mile or so it would smooth out and be just fine.

We rotated and balanced tires. Inspected suspension and CV joints. I visited an online auto forum where the moderators had given me good advice before. The circumstances did not seem to fit any of their suggested problems.

I planned to make a 600-mile round trip to visit our daughter (Yay! Had a Great visit!) this past weekend so we took the car one more time to the garage. This time I had the mechanic go for a ride with me and I showed him exactly what was happening. His guess? A brake caliper hanging up. Yep. When it hung up and did not disconnect it caused the brake drum to heat up and warp a bit and perform a growly rhum-rhum-rhum shimmy. After a mile or so the caliper would release and the wheel would run just fine.

The mystery is solved! The brake was fixed! The car drives smoothly! You can't imagine how much I enjoyed that 600-mile shimmy-free drive.

Life is full of mysteries. This one was minor. There are mysteries much more profound than this...like the time we discovered the binoculars in the dishwasher! We never did solve that mystery nor know who to blame. (I think I was the culprit but I'm not taking credit if I don't have to!)

Speaking spiritually, I like it that the Apostle Paul uses the word "mystery" in describing the salvation that God makes available to man through the work of Christ.

Paul says in Ephesians 3:8-12 ...
"To me, the very least of all saints,
this grace was given,
to preach to the Gentiles
the unfathomable riches of Christ,
and to bring to light
what is the administration of the mystery
which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;
so that the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known through the church
to the rulers and the authorities
in the heavenly places.
This was in accordance
with the eternal purpose
which He carried out
in Christ Jesus our Lord,
in whom we have boldness and confident access
through faith in Him.

What Paul is saying is that the mystery of salvation through the work of the Son was eternally purposed by the Father. It was a mystery until it was presented into our time/history. The work of Christ now stands revealed...it is effectual to all those who believe...both Jew and Gentile (all the world).

God has purposed, planned, carried out, and made effective all that He proposed to do on behalf of His people. And the work He has begun He will carry out to completion. Phil. 1:6

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