Some Adjustment Needed
At the very bottom of any performance parts catalog are adjustable cam gears. While some are available in flashy colors, they’ll never steal the under-hood spotlight from ubiquitous strut-tower braces or sleek cold-air intakes. Listing for around $300, they don’t generate as much profit for tuning companies as, say, turbochargers. They’ll never add much horsepower to an engine; in the case of an Acura Integra GS-R, carefully tuned adjustable cam gears could net two or three horsepower. Yet they’re everywhere.
All cars with cams have cam gears, mounted with precision to determine exactly when in the combustion cycle the camshaft opens and closes valves. Adjusting these, by advancing or retarding the cam timing by a few degrees, can ultimately transfer an engine’s power band from one part of its rev range to another (and, with enough tuning, find that three-horsepower bump).
Three horsepower can’t really be felt from the driver’s seat, but it can be measured on a dyno. Of course, not everyone who uses adjustable cam gears makes their adjustment on a dyno. They might convince themselves that they can feel the difference on the road. Or, they’ll adjust the gears based on what someone on a forum said worked for their car. Then they’ll adjust things a little more. And a little more.
Out of all the people in the New Testament, Martha seems most likely to constantly fiddle with adjustable cam gears. Sometimes she felt obligated to adjust other people: after the death of her brother, Lazarus, she heard that Jesus was coming and went out to meet him at the road, saying, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21). Other times, her preoccupation with adjusting kept her from experiencing what was truly important; when Jesus and his disciples visited her home, she was too busy with hosting duties to sit and hear Jesus speak (Luke 10:38-41). Martha: adjuster, nit-picker, perfectionist.
Martha was obligated to work relentlessly. She thought she was doing something good, and she was. She was constantly adjusting, but she nearly missed out on Jesus. Jesus was there to offer the perfect adjustment to people preoccupied with infinitesimal fixes and adjustments, and to give new power to people who know that all their fiddling and tuning aren’t enough to find the power they need within themselves.
Something in our brains compels us to constantly monitor and adjust ourselves. We don’t have the power we want. Extremely aware of our weakness, we fiddle and adjust until we’re exhausted, but we can’t tell if it’s made any difference. Sometimes we get angry and insist on adjusting and controlling people in our lives. Other times, we’re furious that someone else isn’t adjusting themselves the way we think they should. “But I shouldn’t worry about them so much,” we say. So we try to adjust that part of our thinking. Maybe if we look hard enough for that extra power, we can have the success, victory, contentment, or peace.
Jesus didn’t come to teach us better ways to adjust ourselves. He never once instructed his followers to look inside themselves for more power. He didn’t promise us contentment if we figured it all out. He entered the world, and he still enters hearts today, so we can place the burden of our obsessive preoccupations onto his shoulders. By praying to God and admitting our weakness and our faults, we open ourselves up to God’s adjustment and correction. Like an extra three horsepower, we may not feel it right away. Like a stack of dirty dishes, we may think the problem hasn’t been addressed. But we’re right where we need to be. Adjustment is happening. Power is being transferred. Change is coming.
Advancing or retarding cam timing is like adjusting ignition timing in two ways: 1) It isn’t necessary on a properly running engine, and 2) too much adjustment will grenade the engine. When we rest in God’s heart-changing work, we’re running the way we’re supposed to, and an extra three – or 30 – horsepower becomes something we ask for in God’s timing, not ours.
