The Core Of the Problem

About a month ago, we had a slow air leak in one of our tires. After not having much luck finding the source of the leak, I took it to a repair shop. Good news...I didn’t have to pay to repair the thing. Bad news...I had to pay to buy a whole new tire! That was not in our budget for the month, but we got it taken care of and are doing fine.

Several days ago, a different tire on the same vehicle started showing signs of an air leak. I checked the tire pressure, and where it is normally stays about 35 psi, it was around 12. So I aired the thing up, and it stayed fine for almost 36 hours. Then, on Saturday afternoon, it was down in the teens on the pressure gauge. So, I aired the thing up, got a soapy solution, and began to spray the tire mercilessly, looking for the offending hole. (For those that don’t know, the air leaking out will “blow bubbles” out of the soapy solution.)

I couldn’t find anything, and realized I needed to take the tire off the van to get the full view. I jacked up the van and began the process of removing the lug nuts only to discover that they were stuck and rusted in place. Thinking I just needed a bit more muscle, I twisted the lug wrench tighter. I heard a horrible shrieking sound, felt the nut turn a little bit, and then was suddenly off balance. Thinking the wrench had slipped free, I looked to the wheel only to discover that the nut was gone; As well as about a quarter of the lug stud. Oops. It had broken off!

Admitting that I was out of my league, I called up a good friend, and he came over to give me a hand. We decided to replace the stud first, so we made the run to the auto parts store, bought the pieces, and headed back to the house. In order to get the new stud in place, we needed to remove the brake rotor.

You guessed it...new problem. The rotor was stuck so badly that my friend thought we needed special tools to get it done, and he didn’t have them. We decided to put the whole thing back together and see if we could borrow the tools the next day and take a whirl at it after church. The whole time time we were doing all of this other stuff, we had been taking turns still examining the tire, trying to find the hole, and finding nothing.

Sunday afternoon rolls around, and the tire is back down to about 10 psi. I jack the van up, again, and begin the process of exorcising the demons from the lug nuts as I removed them, again, and then pulled off the tire. Again. My buddy arrived and we began disassembling the brakes. Here’s where we finally got some good news. While we couldn’t find the tools we needed, my friend spoke to a mechanic he knows, and we didn’t need them. The rotor was just stuck to the post due to some more rust. We sprayed WD-40 all over that sucker, and using a very sophisticated leverage system of screwdrivers, rubber mallets, hammers, and our legs and arms, we finally got that thing off.

We replaced the lug stud, reassembled the brakes, and put the tire back on. Still not sure what was going on, we just decided to air it up, and I’d take it to the shop the next day. As we removed the air compressor from the tire, the valve stem finally revealed itself to the problem as air blew out with enough force to shoot a paintball 100 yards. The little tiny “core” that is triggered from the compressor or tire gauge was blown, and even though the valve cap was on tight, air was still escaping. We “jiggled” it around to stop the massive air flow, and recapped the valve.

This morning, I had to put more air in the tire, and managed to make it to the shop. Once I told the mechanic what the problem was, he came out with a tiny piece, less than one-inch long. It was the new valve stem core. In literally less than 45 seconds, this man (and his special tool resembling a screwdriver) removed the old piece and installed the new core. Then, in a display of complete good-will, he didn’t even charge me anything!

Isn’t it funny how one tiny thing can cause so much trouble? That valve stem core weighed less than one ounce, and was shorter than the diameter of a penny. However, it caused several hours of trouble and concern. Even though the solution was apparently very simple, discovering the problem proved to be more difficult than I had hoped.

Many times, we can see the same things played out in us. One tiny little thing isn’t quite right in our lives, whether it’s un-checked sin, a single concern, or what we thought was just a menial task that we overlooked. That one “little thing” can lead to a world of hurt and cause many hours of lost time. It may even cause new problems as we attempt to figure out exactly what is wrong.

But, if we know something is wrong and we commit to getting it fixed, the rough road that comes from seeking out the real problems and subsequent solutions can help us in the long run. Repentance from sin restores our fellowship with God, but is often a painful process. Learning to trust others may be out of our comfort zone, but may be what we need to quit worrying. We don’t always want to climb out of the recliner to do that one last thing we forgot, but can save us time in back-tracking or having extra things to do in the chaos of trying to get ready work or school the next morning.

What is the little thing that is giving you trouble? Even if you don’t know what it is yet, pray about it, and commit to getting it resolved. God is faithful, and He will help you find what you need to do in order to keep the core of your relationship with Him strong and growing.