“THE DUESENBERG – PART 2” – Mar. 8

“And the king (Josiah) stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.  And all the people joined in the covenant.”  2 Kings 23:3

“Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all that Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.” 2 Kings 23:25

PART 2 – THE DUESENBERG

Read Part 1 here at “THE DUESENBERG – PART 1”

His son, the fortunate man’s grandson, discovered that he was owner of the Duesenberg when the family attorney handed him an unfamiliar key during the reading of his father’s will.  “A Duesenberg” he snorted under his breath. “A car from a by-gone era, just like this empire my father has left me,” was all he thought.  The grandson was consumed with the worries of transforming a business in a vastly different economy than that of his father or grandfather. The years of prosperity were gone and he was fighting to retain the family’s wealth.  He had no time for an old Duesenberg.  The beautiful car was tucked into the back of the old carriage barn and covered.  The grandson forgot about the elegant car as the wealth of his grandfather slipped from his fingers.

The grandson died sooner than others his age.  The stress of being the patriarch of a declining house had stripped years from his life.  He had compromised all of his ethics in search of the deal that would turn everything around.  He had built a reputation throughout the business world as that of a swindler due to his relentless desperation to hit it big.

His son, the fortunate man’s great grandson, inherited assets consumed by creditors. His first action was to prepare for the bankruptcy of the family businesses. He knew his family was bankrupt of wealth and hope.

On a sunny day, after a gray meeting with yet another bankruptcy attorney, the great-grandson took a walk through the family’s country estate; the home that his great-grandfather had built.  He poked through the various out-buildings in an attempt to ease his mind.  That is when his eyes were drawn down a shaft of sun streaking through some dilapidated boards of the barn.  The sunlight was illuminating a familiar form.  It was the forgotten Duesenberg.  He had remembered his father haphazardly showing it to him years ago when he was a boy.  Just the glimpse of the stately car as his father jerked the tarp back had been enough for him to fall in love with the automobile.  The Duesenberg had been the center piece in many of his day-dream adventures of his youth.

It immediately dawned upon him that he owned this Duesenberg.  This elegant masterpiece of craftsmanship was now his.  With an excitement he had not felt in a long time, he immediately set to the work of removing years of discarded debris to free the Duesenberg from its confinement of neglect.  He cleared a path through the collapsing barn, attached a chain to his prize and pulled the Duesenberg into sunlight for the first time in decades.  Time had not been kind to the old car.  It was broken down.  The finishes had faded and dulled.  The leather and fabric had cracked and fragmented.  The gears had bound and refused to turn.

The great-grandson was not detoured.  He knew what he had.  He had a treasure.  He could feel the rightness of this automobile and he could not wait to get behind the wheel.  He carefully opened the door and gingerly slipped behind the large steering wheel being careful not to cause any more damage.

He knew he had a treasure but he was unsure of what to do with it.  He inspection every inch of the car and become more enamored with it as he become familiar with its subtleties.

He cleaned the years of grime away.  When he was looking under the passenger’s seat, he saw an object that appeared to be a book tangled in the springs of the seat.  He reached the length of his arm and carefully removed the book.  He swiped the dust and spider webs from its cover and read, “Owner’s Instruction Book – Duesenberg – Model J.”  With delicate fingers, he opened the cover to the table of contents.  At the top of the page, in elegant cursive writing from a by-gone time, were the words,

“This is a treasure that you have been given.  I have chosen you for this gift.  You have not chosen me.  I have chosen you not because of who you are or who you will become.  I have chosen you because you are the least of all men.  I have chosen you for my own reasons.  You are blessed to receive this gift as will all the generations that follow you.  Only be careful to follow this owner’s manual.  This manual is a gift intended to help you and all subsequent owners to know how to care for this special blessing.  You are very blessed; never forget where you were.”

Duesenberg (Photo credit: Venom82)

The great-grandson wept as he sat on the Duesenberg’s fragile running board.  He knew that the blessings of his family were somehow tied to this automobile.  He knew that his father and grandfather had not followed the owner’s manual.  They had not valued this incredible gift.  He resolved, as he wiped the final tear from his eye, that he turn away from the ways of his father and would walk in the example of his great-grandfather.  He called his son to him and opened the instruction manual and began to read, “Instruments and Controls…”The days rolled into each other as the father and son worked to restore the old Duesenberg.  They read the owner’s manual day after day and their gray pessimism of the future turned into golden rays of hope.

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Our Father in heaven has given all who are His, the gift of faith.  It is a treasure of indescribable worth.  The Bible, God’s Word, is our instruction manual.  His words are our guidance in how to follow Christ as we have been called to do.  Let’s not be like the Israelites who so neglected God’s instruction that they misplaced and lost God’s law.  Let us not neglect to follow the instruction that God has given us.  He has given it to us for our good.

May we be like Josiah and turn back to the Lord with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our might.

May the value that we place in the gift of our faith be demonstrated in the diligence of our adherence to the instruction of the Bible, our owner’s manual.

PRAYER: Lord, I find it hard to comprehend how a people could lose your law but it did happen.  I know that it can happen again.  Father, write your words upon my heart and the hearts of my family.  Lord, give us such an appreciation for your gift of faith that we will love your word.  Create in us an affection for your word that we desire to keep it near to us at all times.  You have give us your instruction for our good and enjoyment.  Spirit, guide us in the word.  Lead us back to you and your word with all of our hearts and all of our souls and with all of our might.    Amen

“THE DUESENBERG – PART 1” – Mar. 8

“And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it…Then Shaphan the secretary told the king (Josiah), “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.” 2 King 22:8, 10

“For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” 2 Kings 22:13b

PART 1 – THE DUESENBERG

English: 53227(293) Works Progress Administration: unemployed shown at volunteers of America Soup Kitchen in Washington, D.C., 1936. (27-0637a.gif) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There once was a man of poverty who struggled to find his daily meals.  The gray of the days of a prolonged depression matched his pessimism of the future.  Tomorrow was bleak for this man of poverty.  Hope was indeed dim for a man without means.  That all changed for him in a soup kitchen at the lonely end of a long table.A strange figure silently approached this man of poverty as he hunched over his charity soup.  This well-dressed man, who quietly sat dawn opposite him, inexplicably stretched out his arm.  At the end of his hand, there dangled a key.  “It is yours my fortunate friend; only be careful to follow the owner’s manual,” was all that he said as he dropped the key into the palm of this bewildered beneficiary.  The man of “means” lead the man “without” to the edge of the street.   With a sweep of his arm, he said, “She is yours; only be careful to follow the owner’s manual.”  The desperate man’s eyes followed the long sweep of his arm; from shoulder, to elbow, to the tip of his fingers.  What lay beyond was a dream.  A Duesenberg; it was the quintessential car of luxury and speed.

Duesenberg Convertible SJ La Grande Dual-Cowl Phaeton 1935 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He stood in amazement. He slowly turned to his companion, hoping a coherent question might form by the time he faced him, only to discover that he was gone.  He stood on the sidewalk in stunned astonishment as the crowds pushed around him.  “This must be a prank; how can this be real?”, he thought as he rolled the key in his now perspiring palm. Finally, he reasoned that he would play along even if this were a mischievous joke.  At the least, he would get to drive a Duesenberg.  Therefore, he slipped into the driver’s seat, across the custom-made interior of the most elegant automobile he had ever seen.  He started the car and pulled away from the soup kitchen with acceleration and power that he had not known were possible.This fortunate man discovered that he wasn’t the punch line in a cruel joke.  No one ever came for his Duesenberg.  It was his and he cared for it with a passion.  He followed the owner’s manual with precision for he knew the treasure that he had.

He found that owning a Duesenberg changed everything in his life.  It was generally assumed that he was a man of means due to his ownership of such a car but he knew it was something more.  Other men of ability and wealth befriended this fortunate man and opportunities were soon laid at his feet.  Prosperity changed his gray pessimism into a golden hope of the future.  As years slipped by and his wealth accumulated, he never forgot his poverty and who he was under all the fine clothes.  He was appreciative of all that he had been given and he cared for his Duesenberg with a devotion that none in his family could understand.  He followed the owner’s manual in such detail that he had it memorized.  His efforts were evident.  When he lay grayed, wrinkled and dying, the Duesenberg looked the same as that fateful day when a key was dropped into his youthful hand.

Just before he died, this fortunate man dropped the key of his beloved Duesenberg into the youthful hand of his eldest son. He whispered to his son in a voice stolen by age and illness, “She is yours; only be careful to follow the owner’s manual.”

This young man loved his father.  He grieved long and hard at his passing.  It took many years before he could even look at the Duesenberg because all he saw was a father, whom he missed dearly.  However, that become the reason the son grew to love the Duesenberg.  It reminded him of the man he loved.He would go into the expansive garage and just sit in the Duesenberg, which was now relegated to the last stall since it was rarely driven.  He maintained the car to keep it functional.  He would run it regularly to keep the myriad of mechanical parts well lubricated.  However, he perused the owner’s manual mostly to see the clear and decisive handwriting of his father in the margins.  He remembered the times with his father of caring for this car.  The time when his father stopped him while he was cleaning the upholstery and said, “No my son, that is not how the manual tells us to clean the leather.”  He then quoted from memory exactly how the process was to be completed and he concluded with, “we must be careful to follow the manual. It was given to us to help us keep this wonderful automobile.  If we are careful to follow the manual, this automobile will be a blessing to countless generations of our family.”

The son faithfully followed his father’s instruction but without his father’s earnestness, which he never fully understood.  The years passed and the son died after owning the Duesenberg for half a century. 

Continue reading “THE DUESENBERG – PART 2”