Just Wind, No Frizz

Good Saturday morning! The big storm appears to have gone well to the north of us. Lots of wind last night, but it didn't even frizz. I'm not sure that I am ready to use the froz...word yet. October 4/5 is kind of early for that. Ah, but according to our history in these parts, that is not at all early for our first frost. Oops, there I said one of those bad words. It wasn't that long ago that a frost on August 29 or 30 was fairly common. Hmm, weather babbling, it must be a Saturday devotional.

So, what is it like to take off on a project or task without the Lord? Imagine you have a vehicle that you seldom service and check the fuel level only occasionally. You jump in and take off without having any idea how soon the engine will sputter and quit on you. At the time of rolling to a stop, neither do you know whether it is the lack of fuel or the death of the engine. On the other side of your garage is your faith car. That one is serviced regularly, not always by you but by ministers, teachers and God's Holy Spirit. There is always enough fuel because God provides as needed, but there is a catch: no fuel gauge and the service history is kept somewhere you can't see. Faith says that vehicle will get you to the destination every time, but doubt causes you to take the 'real' car that you have worked on at least a little (and it has a fuel gauge!).

When the so-called real car dies along the roadside, that is usually when we remember prayer and faith. The bus is in the ditch, the car is broken down, the project is at a standstill, or the way we chose is a dead end in a box canyon with a landslide about to crash down, and then we remember to come running to our Lord. Maybe we just like living life on the edge of disaster. Perhaps a good gamble with plenty of risk stirs up our blood a little. We give a little pep talk to the self right then, perhaps vowing to remember our prayer first next time, but the car called Me is still stuck.

God may leave us to walk back to get the proper restart to the task at hand, or He may send a rescue, we don't know. Starting in the faith car with a prayer for God's help and blessing may not prevent a breakdown either, but a trial of our faith is better than a failure of our meager strength in trying to go it alone. The failure of our strength is a humiliation because pride and self-will began that trip. A trial of our faith is a cause for praising God because we left in His will and had faith in His strength. The breakdown may look the same, but on God's way we know the roadside assistance vehicle is on the way, we just don't have an ETA. On the way of self, that car has no fuel and no hope.

Have a great Saturday in Christ,
Bucky