Feed That Meter

Bud Hancock

In our world, there are numerous devices designed to measure almost everything. Several examples:

• a clock or watch measures time on a second, minute and hourly basis, very beneficial for knowing what time it is at any moment and being able to schedule events precisely throughput the day. 
• a calendar measures the days in a month and months in a year, with each day being a 24 hour period
• A ruler, or scale measure is used to measure distance in many different units (inches, feet, yards, miles, etc. or millimeters, centimeters, meters, kilometers, etc).
• In the financial world, like banks, bill counters measure the number of pieces of various currency that is fed into them thus allowing one to determine exactly how much money is being counted.

There are countless other measuring devices in use that are seldom considered, even while they are being used.

I guess there are still a few small cities where parking meters are being used to collect money from drivers who like to park their cars close to where they shop. I remember years ago when most shopping areas were in the center of towns rather than shopping malls where dozens or perhaps hundreds of stores were located, and where the parking is usually free; the downside of the free parking was that you might have to walk a long distance from your parked car. In the towns using parking meters, the only way to use those stores was to walk to town, take public transportation (ugh) or park in a space where a meter demanded you insert a coin or two to pay the government for the privilege of parking (hopefully) near your preferred shopping. It was a convenience where you merely plunked in a coin and received a specific amount of time for your parking space, depending on the value of the coin. In most of the cases in my memory, the maximum amount of time available without having to return and deposit more coins was around one hour, possibly two hours.

Well, it did not seem to be a big issue then; after all, you were getting the privilege of using fewer steps to get your shopping done, so the quid pro quo was acceptable. The small cost seemed a fair swap for that privilege.

I never once questioned where the money went that accumulated in each of those meters; after all, the meters seemed well built, usually made of metal (What? No plastic) and nearly maintenance free so a likely fair amount of money must have been accumulating from the rental of those small spaces on city streets. To this day, I have not figured what that money was used for, except to maybe pay the “meter maids” who emptied the meters and/or wrote citations to those unfortunate enough to have overstayed their allotted time.

I will admit I have memories of running out of a store to feed more coins into the meter since, after checking my watch, I knew I would not be finished shopping in time to drive away before the meter clicked over to “expired”. I will also admit that there were a few times when I failed to get back to the meter in time and developed the sad face looking at the citation tucked up under my windshield wiper☹. That ticket  made my bargain purchases lose some of their appeal.

To all those who live in towns where parking meters are still used, here is a small tip: work on your “meter strategy” to keep the sad face from your countenance. Check the time frequently and for Pete’s sake, make sure you remember exactly where you parked! Following a good meter strategy will certainly make your downtown shopping experience more enjoyable and the small cost to park will not detract much from the great bargains you find. One major takeaway for me in using parking meters is that NOTHING is free in this world, and even in the next. For everything you might think is free, someone, somewhere, paid the cost for it.

Of much more importance than what it costs to pay for meter parking, and the value you receive for that privilege, is another meter that nearly everyone has the opportunity to use daily, and the return on the investment will be amazing. I’m talking about the words of God spoken to Moses when the Prophet went up into the mountain, Mount Sanai, to hear from God on behalf of the  Jewish people. During the forty days and forty nights that Moses was on the mountain communing with God, He was given tablets of stone on which were written the commandments that God gave to the children of Israel as a “testimony” of God’s love and mercy unto them. We call these the Ten Commandments by which man can be declared righteous IF the commands are totally obeyed. The commandment I want to discuss is the fifth in order given by God and it is:

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee (Exodus 20:12). KJV

Notice there are two parts of this command; the first is a detailed expression of what God expects from us all: Honour thy parents. Exactly what does that mean? The word for honour in Exodus 20:12 is the  Hebrew word, kabad (Strong’s 3513, pronounced kaw-bade’) and the word is translated, give weight to, be or make heavy. In essence, it means that we are to give the deepest respect and reverence to our parents by highly valuing them and expressing to them the appreciation and love we feel for them and being obedient to their words to us. In doing so, we “give weight” to the parental authority that God established when He created Adam and Eve. In the chaotic and nearly lawless days we are now in, and with the pressures that young people are under from their peers and educational authorities, that is sometimes a seriously challenging expectation.

Children nowadays are being told in their ungodly educational/propaganda centers that they are smarter than their parents, hence, knowing more than them, they need not listen to any direction from parents. This is an idea straight from Satan and his minions who have long encouraged people to ignore any teaching from the Bible. Believe me, Satan knows the Bible and he also knows how to convince people that they don’t need it. With children, he appeals to their ignorance of God and His word and to the natural rebellion that every child is born with. If parents do their job well, teaching their children what the Bible says, their kids will have a much better chance of withstanding all the lies that wash over them on a daily basis (Proverbs 22:6), and their ignorance will become godly knowledge.

There is another meter that God maintains and checks regularly, the one that measures how much reverence and respect is given to parents by their children, and I don’t just mean by small children. Long after I was a grown man, I had learned this lesson of parental respect and reverence so well that I still, to this day, pay the utmost respect to my father and mother on every possible occasion. Even today, after they have both been dead many years, I never speak one word against them. In my heart, I tell them, and God, just how much I love and appreciate them. I still honor them and the words they taught me from the Bible. I honor them for the  discipline they provided that has kept me on a straight path for most of my life. I know in my heart that, had it not been for their love, their encouragement and their discipline through the younger years of my life, I likely would already be dead and buried.

I come from two families with many children and had a large number of aunts and uncles, most of whom were God-fearing people who taught their own children, my cousins, the same things my parents taught me. And nearly all of those cousins lived long lives; some are still going strong into their late eighties. However, I had one cousin with whom I was very close growing up. He was a gifted athlete who could have been much more than he was. But he was also very rebellious and often openly rebelled against his parents. On more than one occasion, he related to me how much he hated his mother. I felt bad for him, but he was such a strong personality, he was nearly unreachable. When he was 25 years old, in a drunken stupor, he drowned in a large, very deep lake, even though he was a strong swimmer, I still wonder at times if he had the opportunity to repent of his bad choices and accept Christ in his last moments of life.

The meter that I mentioned  earlier is one that God keeps close check on. That meter is much more important than any that determines how long you can legally park your car. It has a direct connection to the latter part of Exodus 20:12, “that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee”. I am one of those old-fashioned Christians who truly believes that God means every word He speaks, and that He stands behind every word of, or about Him, that has been recorded by men. When He says that honoring your father and mother will add years to your life on this Earth, you can take that to the bank. Even though mechanical parking meters are nearly obsolete, every person ever born has his or her own personal “life meter”. But, similar to the old parking meter, it won’t mean much if nothing is ever put into it. That meter is fed by honestly honoring your father and mother, often. Every time you show them the respect they deserve, your meter is clicking up the credits.

So if you desire to “Live long and Prosper” (sorry for the Star Trek reference), I have one recommendation for you:

FEED THAT METER!

Blessings and Maranatha!

Bud Hancock

budaroo@twc.com

Born and raised in a small textile town in North Carolina, Bud’s family moved to Michigan in the hope of finding better employment with General Motors.  After graduating from high school, Bud began an apprenticeship with General Motors to become a Metal Modelmaker.  Retiring after a 30 year career, which included an eight year stint as a Metrologist (Science of high precision measurement), he and his wife moved back to North Carolina to be near his elderly parents.  Shortly thereafter, with both of his parents having passed, he began a new career in the bank security/ATM business, advancing from an entry level technician to one of two North Carolina customer service managers for his employer.  Retiring again after 13 years, he and his wife of 51 years relocated to Tennessee where Bud began writing articles emphasizing Biblical teaching and geopolitical issues.  At age 75, he and his wife relocated to South Carolina with their Miniature Schnauzer, Baxter.  Bud continues to study God’s word and write articles on Christian living and geopolitical issues from the Biblical end times  perspective.