Friday, June 13, 2008

Out of Gas


This week a bunch of church members went to go see the Gateway Grizzlies game together. We had a fantastic time. I mean there were $1 hotdogs! What could be better? The weather was gorgeous, and the Grizzlies won. It was a perfect night.

As we were driving home in the big white bus, we heard a big backfire. Then another. Thankfully, we had just pulled off the interstate and were on a more rural road. I immediately stood up to see what was going on.

Our bus driver exclaimed, “we are out of gas. I guess I forgot to look at the gas gage.” What followed was an hour of sitting on the side of the road, waiting to be rescued with some gas.

I thought this was a perfect metaphor for life. We are cruisin’ along, having a wonderful time, and then BAM. We feel spiritually exhausted. At some point along the way, we forgot to check our spiritual “gas” gage and we simply run out. How unfortunate…but let’s face it, it happens, doesn’t it?

Let’s think about the woman at the well. If you are unfamiliar with the story, take a few minutes and read John 4:1-26. This woman is tired. She is worn out – emotionally and spiritually. She craves something to fill her up, to fill her tank! And then Jesus comes with an offer, “Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Jesus offers to fill up our spiritual gas tank so that we never run out, but it takes effort on our part! This is why we constantly need to be connected to God – praying, fasting, reading our Bibles, going to church, talking about our spiritual lives with others, etc. All of these things are like checking our gas gage. All of these things ensure that we do not run out of spiritual gas.
Thanks be to God that we have each other to help remind us to check our gage before we run out of gas!

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