Motorcycle Forks and God's Faithfulness

Ever had a day when you did everything in your power to make it turn out one way only to have it turn out entirely different?

On Saturday morning, I awoke with one goal in mind: to get my Suzuki back together and on the road by the end of the day. First though, I needed to help my lovely wife, Jenifer, set out odds and ends for a neighborhood yard sale. Once that was up and running, I headed into the garage to begin work on the motorcycle. [See previous blog post for why it needs repair]

The first task of the project was to disassemble the right-hand fork shaft to replace a leaking oil seal. For those of you who aren’t around motorcycles much, the “fork” is made up of the two spring-loaded pistons or shock-absorbers that are bolted to the handlebars at the top end and provide the mount for the axel and front tire at the bottom. They have heavy oil in them that acts, not only as a lubricant, but also as a dampening agent that keeps the forks from bouncing as you drive over bumps in the pavement. When the seal begins to leak, oil seeps out of the piston and gets on everything near it. It’s not a good thing. One of the fork seals was leaking before the accident, but since the accident repair included front-end work, I figured it was as good a time as any to fix the leaking seal.

Every motorcycle fork assembly is different. I’d changed a fork oil seal on another motorcycle once, so I thought I could do this one too. First problem: I don’t have a hex-head socket large enough to fit the bolt in the bottom of the fork. Okay. I’m going to have to make a run to the auto parts store for that socket. I’ll just pick up the fork oil from the Suzuki dealer that I need and get a few other things. It will only delay me an hour or so.

I make the trip to the store on our little Honda Nighthawk. It’s a lovely day for a ride. By 11am, I have the correct socket fitting and I begin to remove the bolt. It will loosen, but not by much. I spin the bolt for a few turns—nothing. I peer into the open end of the piston. No clue there as to why it won’t come apart. I study the diagram I printed off the Internet. Hmmmm. I peer into the open end of the piston again. I spin the bolt while appearing into the piston. Oh crap!

Deep inside the piston housing is a wrench fitting. Reality begins to sink in—I don’t have anything that’s going to fit into the fitting, not to mention be long enough to reach it all the way inside the piston. I head back inside to get more information off the Internet. Sure enough. Getting to that fitting deep inside requires a special tool for just that task. Oh come on! You’ve got to be kidding? Couldn’t Suzuki design the fork without something so absurd? Only a Suzuki repair shop is going to have such a tool. I can purchase one too, at a number of Internet web sites, for a price.

I’m starting to despair. My goal was to fix the fork seal myself. I wanted to save money. Come on, God, why this? Why do projects have to be so difficult? Why can’t I have a little success? My motive was good! Isn’t saving money a good and noble motive? If money were no object, I would have taken BOTH forks in for repair and let someone more qualified do it. Now I have to have someone else do the work just because I don’t have some STUPID, FANCY, YOU’LL-ONLY-NEED-IT-ONCE doo-dah wrenchy thingy! Ugh!

I begin to think of what to do next. The closest Suzuki dealer won’t be able to do the work until next week. I hit the Yellow Pages to see if anyone else in town repairs motorcycles. I call one place—no answer. I call the Suzuki dealer on the other side of town. I explain my situation to the man who answers. He puts on the Service manager. Yes, they can help me. Yes, they have the special fork wrench. Yes, they can do it this afternoon. Hooray! I’m saved! Maybe my motorcycle will yet ride today.

I tell Jeni the good news and set out again on the little Nighthawk. It takes a few miles for the frustration to wear off. I’m so set on getting to the shop across town, that I forget what a nice day it is. I’ve got a 30 minute ride on the Nighthawk ahead of me and rather than enjoy it, I’m already worried that the other shop won’t be able to help. For the first time today, I begin to speak to God about my problem.

Two things hit me, almost immediately. First, I haven’t asked God to be a part of this project at all today. I set out with my own agenda, completely forgetting, again, that this motorcycle is his. Second, I realize that I’m actually doing what I dreamed of doing earlier in the week. I’m taking a motorcycle ride on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I’m just not on the bike I wanted to be on. Funny isn’t it? I’m doing what I wanted to be able to do and yet was so caught up in the task that I nearly missed out on the blessing.

Armed with that realization, I slow down (the Nighthawk doesn’t really go very fast) [See my last post about speed] and try to enjoy the ride. It IS a beautiful day for a ride and my Heavenly Father is blessing me. My heart softens as I realize his goodness and kindness toward me, even when I don’t immediately see it.

I arrive at the Fort Oglethorpe [GA] Suzuki shop. It’s about 1:30pm. I take all my fork parts to the service desk. The man can help me. His technician will start immediately. I tell him I’ll go drool over the new motorcycles in the showroom while I wait. To a motorcycle fan, a showroom full of new bikes is like a being kid in a toy store. There’s much to look at.

About 15 minutes later, the technician comes to tell me that the after-market fork seals I purchased at the other Suzuki dealer are too cheap. They’ll fit the fork, sure, but he won’t guarantee the work with such poor quality parts. Despair punches me in the gut. Oh no, not again! God, why isn’t this working? I was feeling so good about it a moment ago. The technician and his service manager look in their parts database for the correct OEM part. It shows up on their computer as “discontinued.” Oh, great! They do a cross reference and find a new part number. The technician checks to see if they have the part in stock. No. He checks another bin. “Sorry,” he explains, “we’ll have to order it.”

My heart sinks. Another delay. More money required—that we don’t have! The technician explains that they really recommend having both forks serviced at the same time. They can make sure both are adjusted to the same tension and both will have fresh oil. Fixing one and not the other will cause unbalanced movement in each fork. That could lead to other problems. It’s really best to have them do both. They can order two seals and install them in an hour’s worth of labor. I’ve already purchased the oil. It’ll be another hundred bucks. But, the job will be done properly. In the long run, I know in my heart that it’s best.

I surrender to dismay. Frustrated, I call Jeni and tell her the news. She’s in complete agreement that the work needs to be done. I love her for her understanding. She is very supportive when it comes to maintaining the motorcycles. The only catch is the financing. We simply don’t have the funds. We spent the “cushion” on a car repair earlier in the week.

After further negotiations with Jeni (on the cell phone) and the technician (behind the parts counter), he informs me that he can add the parts order to the repair ticket, saving me having to pay for the parts immediately. He gives me the parts that don’t work—I’ll try to return them to the other dealer for a refund. I promise to bring the other fork in next week. He’ll do them both when the correct parts come in. I thank him for his help and head home on the Nighthawk.

Gratitude slowly takes the place of disappointment in my heart as I ride home on a lovely Saturday afternoon. It’s a beautiful day for a ride and my Heavenly Father has again blessed me with a wonderful motorcycle ride. I finally repent of my former ungratefulness. God has been good to me—all day.

I find other things to do when I get home and make some progress on other aspects of the Suzuki repair project. While the bike is not done, there’s now hope that it will be soon.

It’s not until bedtime that God’s goodness to me comes into focus. I had my agenda for the day. God had another. I had my plan for doing what I could in my own strength. God had other plans. I did what I could to solve my problems my way. God circumvented my solutions and provided his own. My plan was to fix one fork. His plan includes repairing both forks. I would have used inferior parts. He wanted OEM parts on his bike. I wasn’t experienced enough for the task. God took care of that too. I wanted immediate gratification. God wanted it done right. Only he knows what effect having those forks repaired correctly will have on the operation of his motorcycle down the road. Only he knows what he’s saving me from later on. Will I trust him?

Many, many times I find myself trying to solve my problems my own way. In spite of God’s faithful and perfect record of always taking care of me, I am easily tempted to take matters into my own hands. I don’t even think to pray, much less ask Him to be involved. And that’s what he wants. He wants to be involved. He wants to bless me. He wants to bless you. He longs for us to engage Him in relationship. He wants to rescue us. He wants us to call on him in our time of need AND in our time of blessing. God loves to help solve motorcycle repair issues. He loves to be invited into the everyday aspects of our lives. He values the process he takes us through, just as much as the outcome.

God didn’t force me to bend to his will. He allowed me to discover my need for him once I ran out of options. He’s always patient like that. And he’s good. He gave me what I really wanted—a motorcycle ride on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I’m just glad I figured it out before it was over.

God is good and his intentions toward us are ALWAYS good.

Last night, at a special “Palm Sunday” service, the worship leaders encouraged us to consider Psalm 33. The one phrase that stuck out to me is found in verse 4: “…He is faithful in all He does…” God has always been faithful to me and my family. He has always met our need. He continues to bless us in what really matters. He is good. He can be trusted. He is ever faithful, in spite of how we act.

God will put his bike back together in his time and his way. He will provide the funds to pay for it when the time comes. The Suzuki will ride again when God sees fit.