Pull your car into the gas station. Slide in your credit card. Pull it out. Select the grade of gas you desire. Grab the nozzle. Stick it in your gas tank. Pump the gas.
When it clicks, pull it out. Put the nozzle back in the pump machine. Take your receipt. Pull away.
When the tank is empty, fill it up. When it's full, be on your way. A simple metaphor from life.
Rhythm. We do it for our cars. Why do we think we can go so much farther in ministry on a single tank of emotional "gas"?
Take time to get filled up. Don't burnout. Serve Strong!
Ah ... the secret is to know ourselves so well that we will be wise enough to regularly add the best quality fuel we need, BEFORE we run out of that life-giving supply and sputter to a slow, halting, sad, dead-end stop.
Those emergency stops often seem to be places where there's not a drop of energizing, encouraging, life-nourishing fuel to be found ...
Let's encourage one another daily to keep our eye on the gauge and listen to the Spirit's beckoning to "be still ..."
I don't want to run out of gas again. Been there. Done that.
Posted by: Linda Stoll | October 26, 2009 at 09:59 AM
"...the secret is to know ourselves so well that we will be wise..." You are right on Linda. If a runner gets thirsty, she is already dehydrated. Better to avoid the dehydration by drinking when she's NOT thirsty.
God bless you as you "keep your eye on the gauge."
Posted by: Scott Couchenour | October 27, 2009 at 10:08 PM