Running on Empty
Send a link to a friend  Share

"
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.

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

 

Back to top