What Are We Running On?

Sunday, 01 Jun 2003

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
Isaiah 40:30-31
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Even youths grow tired...now I don't feel so bad. It's not because I'm old, it's because we all grow tired! Even the young! We all run on empty sometimes!

There are a lot of different types of fuel in this world. I have been learning about a few of them lately. We don't fill our new truck up with gas, it's called fuel because it's diesel. We also fill our RV's tanks with propane, and that's what keeps us warm at night and turns the burners on. We have solar power so on a sunny day our batteries are recharged, and they are able to run our lights at night. We have a generator that is also fueled by propane and it will recharge our batteries when the day is clouded over and slowing down our solar recharging system.  We are also connected to shore power, as it's called. No relation! That's known in most regular households as Electricity! :)

Lots of different ways of making this new home work, ways of keeping things running no matter what situation we find ourselves in. Sometimes we have full electrical hook-ups and sometimes we dry-camp, as it's called. That means it's sort of like tenting...yeah, right. Not with this RV. It's a long way from those good-ole days!

Our homes, our RV's, our cars, our trucks, our boats...all powered by different sources of fuel. But what "powers" our bodies, our minds, our souls and our spirits? They run low too! We have food and water as fuel for our bodies, but what about our clouded minds, our tired souls, our sagging spirits? Sleep helps, but there are times when even that is not enough. There are times when I wake up very tired, and that's after a full night's sleep. Could it be that it's a "cloudy" day and there's no "Son" power going on? No recharging of my batteries. No filling of God's Word, His presence, His strength to help me keep running? Could be!

What do most of us run on?
Desperation?
Adrenaline?
Fear?
The need for success or to be liked?

Or do we run on:
Hope
Love
Faith
and the Strength of God?

Are we running away from something, or running towards something? Do things seem so out of reach we have to run to catch up with them, or are we chased by our past and hoping to avoid it catching up with us along the way? Do we run from jobs we don't want to do, or do we run to find jobs to do to keep us busy, so we don't have time to think about what might really be going on in our lives? Do we run for others and their needs, neglecting our own, or do we only think of ourselves and what's important to us?

It seems there are so many things we can run to, run away from, run around, run through or run by, that sometimes we forget why we're even here at all.

And we forget what's most important; "God will strengthen us and help us." (Isaiah 41:10)

So why are we running so fast, sweating so hard, worrying so much, fretting over each thing, when God provides the strength and the help we need?

Is it because we can't find the gas station, or the right mixture of fuel to fill our tanks each day? Is it because we are running so low on energy we don't even know where to find what we need, or we don't even want to search for it?

Today, I got home to our RV and the lights were blinking and the alarm was sounding so I unlocked the door and came in to see what all the clamor was about! I found that our "home" was without power, and had been for quite awhile. There was no solar power because the sun was going down and the fog was rolling in. For some reason our shore power would not stay on, and since we had no power stored up, our inverter could not transform any power that might be left in our batteries to even help out the situation. My only recourse was to switch on the generator, which did have propane in it, and hope that it would recharge the batteries and get things going again - which I did while also calling Jim. Thankfully my cell-phone was charged and ready to go!

For some strange reason the "Fault" light was blinking red, and since we are new to this RVing life, Jim said he needed the four-inch-thick instruction manual to read up on this problem. He suggested half-heartily that I might take a look in there, but knowing me for some thirty years now, he knew that was a crazy suggestion. I won't read the instructions on the side of a box unless I'm desperate, so a four-inch-thick manual was pretty much out of the question. He knew my first choice would be to sit in darkness, if need be, and read by candlelight until he returned home in two hours. That would suit me just fine!

Of course, that was before I picked up my laptop and started writing this little story...working on battery power! I'm a happy camper now! But this is an RV, and this will soon be fixed, and all the lights and gadgets and fixtures will be up and running in no time once Jim gets here. It's really not that big of a deal! Hey, I always have the option of visiting a friend too!

Ways of escape, ways to avoid, ways to get around what the source of the problem is!! I do it, we all do it, but is that any way to live? Without power, without light and without strength for each day?

Isn't that what we do sometimes in our lives? Avoid, escape, or work around what's really going on instead of opening up the "Instruction Manual," God's Word, to find out what the problem really is! It's all in there if we would only take a look, but we'd rather live with the inconveniences in our lives than fix what might need some work. We'd rather sit in the dark until the cows come home, or the husband, and wait it out - hoping it passes so we don't have to look into it...as long as the beeping stops, and that little red light that's flashing can be put up with for now...but can it?

What if I was on my own with no one to help me? What if I didn't have to wait just two hours, but a week, a month, or even longer to get this problem taken care of. What if I needed energy now, and there was no one around but me...where would I go to solve such a confusing mess?

Yes, I'd drag out that four-inch manual, look in the table of contents under power, and turn to the page that might hold an answer for me and start reading. Then I would follow those instructions until I once again lived in a home with lights, TV's, microwave, and everything else that I am used to enjoying - and if I couldn't find the answer, I would find someone who could! Someone who was an expert on power!

So what do I do when my life resembles this RV tonight? When the lights are flashing, the buzzers are beeping, and nothing is working as it should? There is only one place to go to that makes sense when that happens...the local bar, of course!! Just kidding here!!  Believe me, there have been times when I would like to drown my sorrows in a bottle, but thank God, and I mean that literally, I have not!

What I have learned to do is open up the "Instruction Manual" for life, the Bible. And now that I think about it...that's a miracle in itself since I am not a fan of instruction manuals, as I described earlier. But I have found One that I can read, and enjoy, and find some answers in when my world has turned dark and nothing seems to be working right!

I turn to the table of contents, or I turn to the concordance in the back, or I simply open it to any random page and start reading, hoping that God will help guide me to what I need for whatever it is I am dealing with on that day. And you know what? Sometimes, it actually works that way! I can turn to the exact page I need just by opening up the Book, and the lights stop flashing - and the buzzers stop beeping - and the power seems to flow back into my body which has been completely depleted on a dark and cloudy day. The Son of God can recharge me even when it's darkest out, and actually He does His best work when it's so dark I can't see my way clear at all.

I was talking to a friend today and I told her something I learned a while back from someone else...there should always be more input than output. I always want to remember that if I am running low on God's input, then I will start running on my own strength, and I will become depleted very quickly. With the Son of God shining on my "solar panels," I will be constantly regenerated. Then I will have the strength to handle whatever comes my way that could drain me of my energy.

If you look in God's Instruction Manual under "strength," you will find many verses telling us how to get the power turned on in our lives. Here are some examples:

2 Samuel 22:33
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

Nehemiah 8:10b
"This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve,
for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Psalm 28:7
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
me heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

Psalm 47:1
God is our refuge and strength,
and ever-present help in trouble.
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I could go on and on, but that gives you an idea of what can be found in God's Instruction Manual. Now the only question is, how does that help get my "lights" back on, or my strength renewed? It helps because the Word of God is anointed. That means that just by reading it, we are helped. It is called His Living Word and it speaks life into our souls - refreshes our spirits and renews our minds.

The Bible never changes and yet is ever changing. The Word is rock solid and yet it is so alive and moving that we can read the same line a thousand times and on the thousandth time, it speaks to us in a way it never has before. We are never sure what we will find when we open up the Bible, because God's Word is unlike any other Book we will ever read on this earth. It is inspiring, comforting, instructional, helpful, hopeful, full of wisdom, and so many others things they could never be contained here.

For example, we watched "The Apostle" the other night. It is a movie about a preacher in the south who does some pretty horrible things, but still loves the Word of God and continues to preach it wherever he goes. When I think about that movie, I think about the well-worn leather Bible he carried in his hands everywhere he went, until he finally gave it away to someone who needed it more. If that was a true story, he would have read that book from cover to cover so many times, you would think he would have grown bored with it - but when he was forced to leave home and could take very few possessions with him -those possessions included God's Word. Why would he need it? He already knew what it said. He'd already read it through and through, but he knew the power it in! That's why!

Now this is just a movie, you might say. True enough, but movies depict real life lots of the time, and what was depicted there was real life. The Word of God has been around for thousands of years and it is still a Best Seller!! Most people who own a Bible and read it regularly not only will have to replace it eventually because it becomes so worn out, they usually own more than one and usually have different translations of the Word. Some translations are easier to read, and are useful at different times in our lives.

I used to read the Living Bible, then I read the New International Version. Right now I am enjoying the New Living Translation in Large Print, I might add! I know there's a new version out now call the Message. It is a great translation that's written in the language we use today.

You see, that's the thing. As the generations change, so does our speech. Words the young people use today would not even be understood when we were teenagers. I heard a young man today comment on something and he used the word "random." It was used totally out of the context I know that word to be used in, and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if it was a new way of saying something is great, or what he meant. But as the generations change, sometimes we get lost in those new words. The younger generation laugh at our words, we are confused by theirs, and their children will have a completely new vocabulary to describe things.

Different Bible translations just bring God's Word into a more understandable speech pattern for each new generation, and finding the one that suits you best is a good thing. Then it makes sense to you, you feel comfortable with it, and the "Instruction Manual" is not a Book to be feared but a Book to be enjoyed!

I need to read mine often. It teaches me every day how this life works, how my life works, how the next life will work. Oh, there's still a great many mysteries that we will never know until our life on earth is finished, but we will know one thing...how to find the power and the strength and the stamina we need to keep our lives working here the way God planned for them to operate.

You see, God has provided everything we need to be strengthened. He has provided every source of fuel we could ever need, and it's all revealed in One Book. All we need do is stop at His fueling station when we're running low, and we will be filled with what we are needing most. Sometimes we don't even know what we're needing. All we know is that our nerves have worn thin, our emotions are on edge and we're not even sure we want to do this anymore!! Whatever "this" is. But, if we stop and pull off the busy highway of life and fill up by pulling out the Instruction Manual and letting God's anointed Word wash over us - those red lights called nerve endings - and those tear drops called warning buzzers - won't get the better of us!

God provided a warning system in each of us to know when we are running low on power. For some of us it is a temper, for some of us perhaps it's a twitch, a need for a drink, a credit card that is full of charges. One of my warning signs is pain. I can feel it in my shoulder blade, and I can feel it in my jaw. It starts as a low-grade discomfort that can accelerate into total stiffness and a very large ache if not tended to. It warns me when I am pushing too hard, when I am not resting enough, when I need to go and recharge my batteries with God's Word and time with Him. That's all He asks, that I stop long enough to let Him help me. If I don't, that's my choice too. I can push it, I can keep running, I can go until all the lights flash and the buzzers beep, but then the problem has grown to a much more complicated set of circumstances that will require more time and care to figure out just what the problem is.

When I first feel my low-grade discomfort, and I stop and rest and open up God's Instruction Manual, I can get my system up and running at full speed pretty quickly if need be. It's not a complicated mess that has layers upon layers that need to be gone through before I can figure out the root of the problem. But if I were to ignore those first warning signs, then I truly could end up in a world of hurt, both physically and emotionally.

God has designed us in the most magnificent way! He has it all figured out and He has provided all the energy and resources we could ever need. He knows our electrical systems, our plumbing, our heating and our air-conditioning and He wrote the Book for it all. When our lights go out, when we've blown a fuse or when our whole system fails, we should call on the One who made us and knows each hair on our heads.

We should not call on the bottle, the drugs, the shopping, the food, the busyness, the work, the travel, the computer etc...they are all substitutes for the real thing. They are the "mechanic" that will rip us off at the drop of a hat because they don't have the answers we are needing to fix the problem.

I wonder if God sometimes feels like Maytag repairman in our lives? Is He bored because He doesn't get called enough? I sure hope not. He is waiting to hear from us. He is sitting by the phone just waiting for it to ring.

Ring...

God: Hello?
Me:   Hello, is God there?
God:  I'm right here Diane!
Me:   Oh good, I'm desperate Father. My life is a mess, I don't know what to do. I have problems everywhere I turn, and my nerves are shot..can you help me?

God:  Sure, no problem! I have all the answers you are needing.
Me:   How soon can you get here God?
God:  I'm already there! Just open your heart and let me in, and I'll get right to work. Do you have an Instruction Manual?
Me:   Yes, somewhere around here I do.
God:  Well, find it okay? We can work on this together if you'll read along with me.
Me:   This is great! I didn't think you'd answer when I called. I thought maybe you'd be busy.
God:  I'm never too busy for you my child. You mean the world to me!
Me:   Wow, it's so good to know where I can turn when I need help. Thanks for being there!
God:  No problem. The only problem is that you don't call enough for my help. I'm here to help you anytime!
Me:   Well then, let's get started God because it's getting dark and my energy is running low. I'm realizing I need to be recharged daily and you are the source of my power. Without You, it won't be long and I will be in darkness. I want to plug into You!!
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This is silly, I know, but it's also the truth. I have run low so many times of late, and I have found where the true source of power lies. It is not in the things of this world, but in putting a call into heaven. It is found by calling out to our Father and asking Him to guide us through the darkness, to let His light shine, and to fill us with all the energy that He has to strengthen us in our days. If we're running on our own strength, we are going to run out of fuel - then we will be running on empty in this life. That is no life to live. That is a difficult, stressed-out existence that God never planned for us. He wants His light to shine out of us and onto those around us who have never met Him. The only way that is possible is for us to be filled with Him!

I want to connect to your power Lord, and be filled with your light! You alone are my strength and my source of comfort and peace when the warning lights of my life start to flash - and the buzzers start to beep - and I don't know which way to turn! Help me turn to You in the darkness!

Believe it or not, Jim got home just a little while ago and pulled out that four-inch instruction manual for our home. He has been figuring out the problem, and as I was typing that last paragraph, this place started working again. He figured out what was wrong by reading up on what needed to be done, and he fixed it! We have power again!

It was possible...if I was willing to try!

Thank you God for a little time in the dark to get to know you better!

You are my lamp, O Lord;
the Lord turns my darkness into light.
2 Samuel 22:29
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Living in His joy, His peace and His light,
Diane