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Dr. Del Tackett is the author, architect and teacher for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project, a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.

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Where Do All the Wheels Go?—and Other Grand Conspiracies

Posted on March 19, 2009
Filed Under Worldview | 12 Comments

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you…1 Peter 4:12

Some time ago I wrote about the mystery associated with socks that disappear into the inner sanctum of washing machines.

I think there is a similar mystery concerning luggage wheels. The difference is that socks sometimes return. Wheels do not.

This is my second suitcase in two months that has given up wheels to the voracious appetite of the mysterious monster that lives behind the rubber flaps or on the other end of the conveyor belt…a belt that descends into the nether world where, I am told, baggage handlers live.

Not just one wheel this time…but two. Gone. Summarily ripped out of their sockets. The bag was only a month old. It had only two trips under its belt…a mere toddler in the world of travel.

Now, I like a restaurant that provides an open window into their kitchens. I get a comforting feeling when I can “see” into the operations that produce stuff I will eventually put into my mouth.

However, the baggage handling system is a dark secret…hidden, off-limits. You can’t go there. You can’t peer into its mysterious world to see what is going on. It just happens.

And, I am beginning to believe, that somewhere down in its bowels, is a machine whose purpose is to knock wheels off of suitcases.

Maybe it is just all one big conspiracy. The “wheel removal” machine has been placed there by the luggage companies to knock one or two wheels off of every tenth bag. This raises the demand for new suitcases and increases profits. Additionally, the machine saves the wheels, boxes them up and returns them to the luggage manufacturers, reducing their overhead.

And this must be the case, because I have never, ever, seen those poor little wheels traveling around on the conveyor belt all by themselves. Have you? Someone must be saving them. If they are not being sent back to the manufacturer, where to they go?

It would be too easy to surmise that they are just thrown away. Otherwise, due to the sheer number of wheels, someone would have surely started, by now, a “luggage wheel recycling” program.

When I buy my new bag, which, of course, I must (it’s all part of their “Plan”, don’t you see?) I am going to engrave the wheels with some secret “code”. When they disappear, I will publish that code and call for people to examine their luggage and look for MY WHEELS!

We will expose this conspiracy!

Well…somewhere, about half-way home from the airport, after “dragging” my poor, amputated bag for what seemed to be three miles to my car, I calmed down and began to think more rationally about all of this…they probably don’t really recycle the wheels. They just melt them down to destroy the evidence.

What about you? Are you losing your wheels? Maybe it isn’t luggage wheels. Maybe it is something else. Maybe it is your bank account or your stock portfolio. Maybe it is a relationship or a job. Maybe it is much more intangible, like hope or joy or peace of mind. Maybe it is a bunch of stuff that seems to be flooding over you and it is way, way out of your control…as if “some strange thing” were happening to you. Maybe you have begun to think that the whole world is against you.

Often times we end up thinking that it is all the result of some conspiracy…maybe even some grand conspiracy. I have met people who see the world this way. Everything seems to be a conspiracy…a conspiracy against them or against all of us.

They are all characterized by the same overriding thing…fear. Fear of secret things that are going on behind closed doors. Fear of groups of sinister people making sinister plans to destroy them or take over the country or rule the world or…whatever.

Everyone becomes suspect.

No doubt, I will become suspect for even writing about it!

Eventually, they isolate themselves more and more from the world. The families suffer greatly. I have met spouses and family members of people who see the world this way. They usually end up crying, because it isn’t easy living with someone who is consumed by fear.

Now, I don’t doubt that there are sinister people in the world. And I don’t doubt that there are even sinister people making sinister plans.

But, there is an interesting verse in Isaiah 8:
The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said:
“Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.
The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary…”

Fear can be a horribly debilitating state of mind. But God’s people are not to fear the world or the things in the world, including the flesh or the Enemy. The only One we are to fear is God. And for the child of God, this is a healthy fear…a comforting fear. For He is our Father…our good and loving Father, who will bring us through all of the trials and tribulations and troubles of this world to a home that He has prepared for us.

Psalm 37 opens up this way: “Do not fret because of evil doers…for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb”

Do not fear man or the conspiracies of man. They will all come to naught…they will all bow down in the end. Jesus told us not to be anxious or worry.

Do not fear the dark; do not fear the unknown; do not fear tomorrow.

…not even monsters that eat luggage wheels.

“So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” Heb 13:6

Comments

12 Responses to “Where Do All the Wheels Go?—and Other Grand Conspiracies”

  1. Kevin on March 20th, 2009 2:36 pm

    After an unexpected car repair, a speeding ticket and almost breaking some bones on a hiking trip in CO, I had some similar thoughts on the way home. Thanks, Dr. Tackett, for the timely message! It’s good to know we only need to fear God. Soli Deo Gloria,
    Kevin

  2. Amy on March 20th, 2009 3:10 pm

    Dear Dr. Tackett,
    Thanks for this last blog entry. With all of the talk about the economic crisis and the downward spiral things seem to be headed on since the economic crash things get scarier with every newscast, economic forecast, etc. A thousand thanks for the reminder of the reality that our Lord intends for us to live in – which is not the one that the world bombards us with on a daily basis! It’s nice to have a place on the internet to go to where i really can find an outlook based on The Truth that is most important.

  3. Ron on March 21st, 2009 6:28 am

    Thankyou for the words of wisdom. So often we are finding ourselves with the opportunity to look at faults in others or what they have done.
    Today’s economy is a good example. However Faith and Patience are a “Gift” and in our day “Today” we have the opportunity to encourage and to be a good example rather than to increase blame and hostility in life.

  4. Todd on March 22nd, 2009 10:37 am

    I first went through the tours about a year ago! While I have never known a time in my life when I did not know Christ, I realized how much of the lie had soaked in over the years of “working out my salvation”…I have led a group through the tours and I now find myself instantly “catching” my thoughts and the TRUTH is there…Every day I am believing what is really real more an more! Someday, the pile of “missing wheels” will make perfect sense…because HE is in control!

  5. Cindy on March 22nd, 2009 9:30 pm

    Del,
    Your blog makes me smile every time I read it. You have such a unique and humorous way of correlating every day life experiences with spiritual applications. You are a blessing!

  6. Pete on March 23rd, 2009 11:27 am

    Dr. Tackett,

    What a timely blog given the past week I have experienced. This weekend past i visited lower Manhattan and made a pilgrimage to the sight of the horrific destruction of the financial district of September 11th 2001.

    Over the course of my travels I have visited places such as Gettysburg Civil War battlefield when i was a young man in middle school. Whilst stationed in Hawaii serving duty in the USCG I visited the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, in most recent years I have visited the beaches at Normandy and cemetery at Normandy France and the Cu-Chi tunnels just outside Saigon in Vietnam they gave a glimpse of the gorilla warfare of the Vietcong. It is hard to put into words the feeling one has when you visit places like this……. lives lost in battle…… blood shed for freedom. Simply put it changes you, it changes your worldview. War leaves a hole in the heart!

    Over the course of the past week my attempts of trying to process my emotions have come full circle to the similar feeling of a hole in the heart, in this particular case a hole the size of the imprint of the financial district of lower Manhattan. I would just weep uncontrollably for the lives lost, friendships, families, relationships forever altered. I witnessed many folks trying to talk with those who would listen as to the events of that day as to say what really happened and what was reported. I left the sight with the similar feeling one would have after visiting Daley Plaza in Dallas Texas, simply unsatisfied that we have been told the truth. Conspiracies are the norm not the exception.

    Than I came across your timely Blog, Thank you Dr. Tackett for your words that INSPIRE !

    The only remedy to fill that hole of uncertainty………. the perfect love that casts away all fear and doubt the only perfect law of liberty found in Jesus Christ crucified for all mankind.

  7. Donna on March 23rd, 2009 12:03 pm

    Del,
    I want to thank you for the Truth Project. My husband, Milton and I attended several years ago and have had the privelege of leading this study in our church.
    I must admit I have become fearful over many things. The neighbor’s dogs will bite me during my run, something will happen to my nineteen year old who is living a bit on the wild side, terrorist groups are going to attack our country and nothing will be left of my 401K by the time I retire. I could go on, but instead I’ve begun to look at my faith. If I REALLY trust God would I be so fearful? So, once again I turn back and say God has it all in His hands and nothing can happen unless it goes through Him. If God allows it then He has a plan and if He has a plan it will be better than I could ever imagine! Thank you for the words of wisdom. It’s scripture like these that bring comfort and peace, then the fear falls away.

  8. Dan H. on March 23rd, 2009 12:04 pm

    Who would have thought that there could be found such a great comfort in fear?

    Psalm 96:9 NIV
    9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.

    In Christ…

  9. Bryan on March 24th, 2009 2:58 pm

    You certainly have the Christ-like way of taking a worldly example and applying it to a heavenly truth. On the bright side, you got your (albeit amputated) bag back. The monsters seem to have taken a liking to navy blue bags and eat them whole…be aware!

  10. Tom on March 25th, 2009 9:13 pm

    Dr. Tackett,
    I work for the airlines and I know what happens to your wheels. The machines that move your bags from departure to arrival consider your bag (especially bags with little castoring wheels) as playthings and make it their lot in life to break off any part that is not rock solid.
    Trust me, … I’ve seen things done to bags that I’m amazed that they even stay together at all. Maybe look at it this way. As one goes through the Truth Project the “lies” are broken and stripped off one’s life, and one is left with a solid Biblical World View. (Thank you so much for transforming this man into someone more solid! It only gets better when you lead other people through this study!) So the machines are only trying to make your bag better by relieving your bag of it’s weaker parts …. making it stronger … sort of.
    Any way, you need a different kind of bag. I’ve used the current bag I have for 10 years and I travel 16 out of 30 days a month. Look into a company called “PurdyNeatStuff” It is “solid” to start with. (No loose appendages)
    Thank you so much for the Truth Project. The insights you share are amazing ….. like the face of our God.
    Tom

  11. Ed on March 29th, 2009 8:38 pm

    Thank you Dr.Tackett for the study “The Truth Project”. After over 50 years of being a Christian I thought I had it wired. I come away a different man after each class. God always finds a way to bring us back to reality, even if it is just the breaking of wheels on our luggage.

  12. Rebecca A on April 1st, 2009 9:29 pm

    What about zippers??? How do those get knocked off? That’s what keeps disappearing from my bags. :-)

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