Preventative Maintenance

Preventative Maintenance

5/8/16

Prevention is a key element in our existence as human beings and it is a necessary process in order to keep us flowing at a constant pace.  On many levels we tend to ignore this process and fly according to the conditions that surround us but if we delay this process we all know that at some point we break down due to our own inner deficiencies.  Our spiritual beings operate in the same manner and if we do not allow our Creator to perform His preventative techniques in our lives our entire existence will become threatened.  God loves us so much that He wishes we live as long as possible on the physical aspect but it is His utmost desire that we spend eternity with Him.

Most of you are aware that I work in a hospital laboratory and that means that a great deal of my time is spent in front of instruments that report out various results to physicians.  I have been in this particular field for over 30 years now and I have to admit that there have been some pretty significant changes to these instruments over those years.  I have been very vocal about these changes and have tried to project positive images to patients about the accuracy of their results when questioned.  While the technological concepts of these instruments have really not changed much the dynamics and the mechanical operations have and it is through these changes that have brought the most success to the entire laboratory field.

In my small lab, I am personally responsible for three instruments that hand out results to my Oncology physicians, these instruments also serve as a backup in case the main lab instruments have problems or are being serviced.   Most of the time all of the instruments in the lab run wonderfully and present no testing delays for the community but as we all know, sometimes glitches occur that need to be attended to and thus problems arise.  The instruments that I run each day are expensive and the time and effort that goes into their development is astronomical and thus reflective on their price tag.  So, in order to keep all parties involved happy, the majority of the medical supply companies have developed a program called preventative maintenance.

Preventative maintenance serves just as it states, a process in which an instrument is worked on before it becomes an issue.  The process is usually scheduled for once or twice a year and it usually takes all day or so for the service technician to complete their work.  This process can become a bit frustrating because it places the lab into a different setting and usually slows down the turn around time for results due to the change in specimen processing.  In my case, when the main instruments go down my workload skyrockets and since I am not in the main line of communication of the hospital added phone calls and a tremendous amount more people walking in my small area desiring information which further complicates my setting.

This process is one of importance however and I cannot stress enough what it would mean to the community if the preventative maintenance program was not in place at our facility.  Our modern instruments still have a vast array of tubing and mechanical motors that are in constant motion while they are in operation.  This means that at any given point these tubes, lines or motors can break down just as any other type of structure, engine or body will do.  Just like going to the doctor, a specialized person can come in at a scheduled time and replace certain parts on an instrument before it breaks down and causes a greater time frame of delay to everyone involved.

I have had the opportunity to stand by and watch some of our service people work on the instruments through a preventative maintenance (PM) session and I must say it is a precise process that fascinates me.  Some of you have heard the joke about when people are tearing things apart and when they believe that they have finished the job they then realize that they have some parts left over, but for some of us this is a reality.  I am so amazed at how these people know each part by name and have the memory of where these parts go after they have been removed but it is necessary for this PM person to have such knowledge because if they did not then there would be no way that the instrument could function properly after all the “innards” were taken out.

We all know that mechanical components have no feelings or emotions but as I stand there and watch these people work on these instruments in this manner, along with my feelings I have with the quality of results I produce through these instruments I can understand the emotions that are present when the PM process is completed.  Through this process, the instrument is slightly taken apart and has a portion of its insides replaced, effectively making the instrument’s “life” extended.  It also provides the physician with the assurance that its performance will give the accurate results that they need in order to treat their patients with the best of care possible.

What brings this into our spiritual world that directly affects our lives is an issue that many of us overlook or deny on a continual routine basis.  For the most part, the instruments that I deal with stay fairly stable and do not produce any issues, this is a good thing.  However, I do not continually look at all of the specific tubes, wells, incubators, etc on a daily basis for if I did I would severely degrade the integrity of the instrument.  So, I cannot accurately say that something is about to occur with my instrument even though the motions and results are not presenting any abnormalities at that moment.  It is the same way and the same process that we have ongoing in our inner lives and while we function normally on the outside we tend to forget that our insides are working just as much on a different level.

It is very important that we understand that while God is concerned with our physical bodies, it is our spiritual lives, status, and condition that He desires the most.  It is a given that our bodies shall pass away at some point in our lives and it is also well known that sometimes our bodies are wreaked with struggles and diseases that have nasty effects on our lives.  But it is the spirit that God is interested in because it is that portion of our existence that is eternal and shall never die; however, it is also the part of our lives that has the eternal choice of where we spend that eternity, which is of great interest to our Creator.

I do not know how many of you continually study God’s Word but I trust that the majority of you do on a daily basis.  The Bible was given to us by God as a reference text to our lives and how to understand what our meaning and purposes are as we walk this planet.  Many people are so against the Bible and some even consider it a “good book” but count its contents as fiction and meaningless.  To be honest, when we look for new instruments in our laboratory some of us have the same feelings and beliefs about other lines of instrumentation as well but if we understand the innards as must as possible then we can make the best decision for our community; and that is exactly what the Bible is to us, or at least it should be.  There is no question that when we are in the market for a new instrument that we locate and purchase the best available and in this light we can say the same when it comes to the Bible and its meaning in our lives.

It is through the Bible that we should recognize that at some point in our lives God is going to have to schedule a preventative maintenance visit.  If we really study God’s Word and know its content and how it directly relates to each human being, then we should not be surprised when God comes knocking on our spirit door to perform this procedure.  Our society has produced a belief that proclaims God is not necessary in our lives and that we should totally disregard all of His existence in our lives.  This belief has caught on quite well and ironically through the blessings that He has given our societies we are promoting our separation from Him on all levels.  We are failing to realize that when we are shoving Him out we are automatically placing our existence at risk from the inside out.

We need God in our lives so that we can know what is going on around us.  We cannot understand the truth about what is occurring if He is not and through this choice will just accept these motions as normal and equal.  It is through God’s preventative maintenance sessions that inform us that things are right or wrong and how we should respond to them accordingly.  If we fractionally remove God from our lives this process of spiritual decay will begin and even though we may not recognize it at first God does and He is right there to schedule a visit to our hearts in order to fix the part, repair the damage and provide us with a new upgrade- if you wish – so that we will be ready for a great and productive future.

As I stated above, the preventative maintenance procedures do not hurt the instruments but only provide a small amount of time constraints on human thinking.  The Bible makes a statement about us being here on this planet but not actually being and through this truth really expands on John 15:19 when it states about the situation of humans and not being from the world; more about that verse later.  It is through this preventative maintenance process that God is able to take out the worn and torn parts of our lives that inhibit our spirit from doing what it was designed to complete and with the restored “parts” that God provides gives our spirit a long and healthy outlook.

Even if the preventative maintenance procedure is a small one it still will be a painful gain for the world and its placement attaches and digs deep quickly.  It is an aggressive stance that once in place it is hard to recognize and impossible to dispose of on our own accord.  Many times we do not even care that its presence lives within us after we recognize its presence which is an open door for further filth and death, the only things that the world can provide.  This is why the world and those who it controls are so violently opposed to the presence of God anywhere in our lives.

If we do not understand God’s Word and the meaning it has for our lives we are no better than the laboratories around the country who refuse to participate in the preventative maintenance program, because we will not know why God is knocking at our spiritual door when He deems it necessary to complete this procedure in our hearts.  This lack of knowledge, whether realized or not, places our eternal placement in dire straights and if not changed will eventually result in a death sentence that cannot be repaired.  The king of this world made his eternal choice a long time ago and it is his job now to take as many people with him as he did when he made his fateful choice.  Satan cannot go back and change his stance and when our physical time is up we will also have made our eternal choice as well.

It takes a willing participant to allow God access to the very instrument that He created.  God shall never force His ways in our lives, He wants a willing servant that listens to His voice so that His Kingdom may be continually advanced.  God abhors death on all levels and He wants nothing more than to prevent our spiritual deaths.  When we do not even care to recognize our deficits and our faulty lines we have placed ourselves in a very peculiar position, one that is addressed in God’s Word.  The place in which God’s Word refers to is called Laodicea. 

I cannot give a more accurate description of what God is saying to us in this article than this, it comes from a song written by Steve Camp a while back and it goes like this:

            “Oh Lord, take your plow to my fallowed ground

            Let Your blade dig down to the soil of my soul

            For I’ve become dry and dusty, Lord I know there must be

            Richer earth lying below”

            “For I’ve been living in Laodicea

            And the fire that once burned bright, I’ve let grow dim

            And the very Word I swore I would die for all has been forgotten

            As the world has become my friend”

God, the author, and creator of each one of us is asking us to once again to participate in His preventative maintenance program. It is a simple process that will guarantee that your eternal spirit shall remain and live in peace with God.  First, we need to repent and turn back to God’s ways in all areas of our life.  Second, dig into God’s Word and study it with a burning fire that has no comparison.  Third, apply God’s Word to your life and make His words the living blood that flows through your spiritual veins. God promises us that if we turn our hearts back to Him that He shall heal our land, both physical and spiritual.  Church, reclaim your mission and repent for the sins that you are allowing in your life.  Church, reach the lost, show compassion and MOST IMPORTANTLY teach that salvation of Christ as the foundation for this mission.  In all circumstances the world is NOT our friend and it is NOT our home.  God cannot look upon sin and since that is all the world can offer, He cannot look upon those who embrace sin either.

DLB