I take
care of my wife’s vehicle fuel 99% of the time. I
bring two important acts of service to her as she
sees it: I kill bugs and I keep her car gassed up.
(Whatever it takes to keep her working! LOL) I’m
happy to do it; I only ask her to tell me when she’s
down to a quarter tank. But that must be way too
boring! As we all know, people are different;
especially the way they treat a fuel tank on a
vehicle. Some are extra cautious and as soon as that
tank is half empty, they seek to fill it up. These
are the kinds of people with a bomb shelter in the
backyard. Me, I like to fill up when the tank is at
the quarter mark. (My dad taught me that keeps the
fuel pump lubricated.) Sure, why not! But some are
adventurers. You push it down to the bottom. “Let’s
see how far we can go on empty!” You like to push it
till you get caught or you barely make it to the gas
station. You love the rush. That is the usual state
of my wife’s car. The idiot light is not only on but
is quickly dimming from it’s pending death due to
fuel starvation. Bonnie likes to bet on if I can
make it to the gas station or not. Which brings us
to our October Sermon Series titled, “Running on
Empty.” This is really a series about hope.
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Hope to the soul is like fuel to the tank. Keeping
our tank full isn’t easy these days. Everyone will, from time to
time, experience something that is draining our tanks. We all have
an emotional tank. We have a spiritual tank. We have a confidence
tank, a relationship tank, and a strength and vitality tank. Any
good driver knows we need to be intentional about checking our gas
gauge and keeping our tank full so we don’t become stranded and
alone and empty. But how does one keep a full joy tank these days
when so many troubles are contributing to our emptiness?
Unfortunately, many are fed up, burned out, weary, mad, strained,
stressed, and discouraged. What do we do when life becomes too busy,
too troublesome, too painful, too irritating, too crazy? What do we
do when our tanks are dangerously low? Ignore it? Try harder? Fill
our lives with things we know will fail? No. There is a better way.
Join us in October as we look at “Running on Empty!”
Ron Otto, Preaching Minister at Lincoln Christian Church
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