Registration good until 2011

I have bought and sold far more motor vehicles than the average person. I'm not a licensed dealer, but I probably push the limit on how many things I buy and sell. So when I tell you that I know a bit about the DMV and the laws of our state which govern the registration of vehicles, rest assured that I do.

I am always on the lookout for that super-special 'deal,' so I cruise the ads on Craigslist, Ebay, and I check out "for sale" signs that pop up on cars and trucks around me. I see a note in an ad now and then, and it makes me smile: "Registration good till 2011 (or 2012...)"

You see, in the fine state of Cash-starved-afornia it doesn't work that way. The day you sell a car, the registration ends and the new owner has a very short time to go to the DMV and transfer the title and register the vehicle. As a side note, the state just keeps the extra money the previous owner paid for a full year (or more)of registration, and the new owner gets to pay for a full year starting on that day. But the point is - you don't get the benefit of the registration they bragged about in the ad. Oh, it's good that it's not past due or out of date, but it all starts brand new the day you buy the vehicle.

Sort of like the way our life starts anew the day we make God the center of it. Saved, born-again, regenerated, call it by whichever word or phrase you like - you start from scratch at that point. The Bible says it this way, "The old is gone, the new has come."

So - why do we keep living the same patterns we lived before? I don't have an answer for that one, but I'm working on it.