I wanted a Suburban and not a minivan. Soccer moms drive minivans. Real men don’t just drive a Chevy Suburban, but they drive a 4 wheel drive Suburban. Of course this was back in the ‘90’.s. More sophisticated SUV’s have since taken the place of my vehicle of choice.
Now I could have easily afforded a pretty nice minivan back in the day, but perish the thought. I bought a 4 wheel drive Suburban that was in my budget range. It was therefore a high mileage used vehicle. That is such a smart choice.

My high mileage vehicle of choice became a high maintenance nightmare. I suppose over a period of three or four years I actually paid for a much nicer car in repair costs. The owner of the auto repair shop went to the Bahamas on a cruise and sent his child to college with the money I spent on that vehicle. It was high maintenance for sure!

I know this sounds really odd, but there is such a thing as high maintenance people too. In order to be classified as a high maintenance person, you don’t have to be old or have accumulated a lot of miles in life experience. It has more to do with emotional maturity actually. Here is the list I plan to share with the church on Sunday in the context of my sermon:

• Easily offended

• Demand a lot of personal attention

• Must be the center of attention

• High expectations of other people

• Needy

• Hard to please

• Apt to complain

• Takers and not givers

I have always viewed myself as being extremely high maintenance. When my birthday rolls around, I want the banks to be closed the following Monday. It should be a national holiday. If I have an ingrown toenail, I want Jan to think that I should be admitted to ICU. And I know when I am really sick, that I am as needy as a newborn baby. Perhaps members of the male gender are just high maintenance models period.

I am also convinced we have to grow out of such egocentric leanings. At the Granbury Church of Christ, we will be opening our new Christian Community Service Center sometime in June. The finishing touches are being placed on a beautiful and roomy building. The opportunities to reach out to our community are beyond our comprehension right now. But I know we will fail if cannot grow out of our tendency to be high maintenance people. We must be willing to serve without recognition. There will be times that even basic gratitude will be absent from the picture. Are you a high maintenance person? I am going to dive in head first on this subject Sunday.