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E Stands For Empty

Have you ever tried to one-up someone else on how busy you are? Perhaps your competition was over who lost more sleep or was more tired? Yeah, I've been there. But I think I just inadvertently trumped myself in this incessant game of proving how busy we are, and thus, proving how important we are.

I ran out of gas in my vehicle last week. Nope, not the gas-guzzling Durango that refuses to be sold. Not even the grocery-getter that gets OK gas mileage. I am not even referring to my spiritual state of being (yet).

Nope, I ran out of gas in my moped. Apparently E stands for empty.

Even on a moped.

In case this doesn't sound stupid enough to you, let me break it down by the numbers. I get 145 miles to the gallon. My moped only holds 1 gallon of gas. So I only had 145 miles to take 2 minutes out of my day to stop and put 1 gallon of gas in my moped. But did I? Nope, I was way too busy.

No. So I found out that there is something worse than being mocked for driving a moped around town. It's being mocked for pushing a moped down the street. Which is what I did. On the plus side, if I'm concerned about getting great gas mileage, then pushing my moped around will certainly accomplish that.

Now, far be it from me to pass up this opportunity to encourage you spiritually. You can laugh at me all you want for running out of gas, but the fact is that many of us have far worse consequences when we run our lives on E.

It happens in much the same way as when we drive our cars. We look at the amount of gas in our tank and we start to play games in our mind. We ask ourselves if we can make 4 more stops before getting fuel. Or we decide that it might be fun to see how low the fuel gauge can go.

So we go a few (days / weeks / months / World Cup Finals) without spending time with God. After all, we learned some Bible verses as a child. And remember the other day when there was nothing good on the radio and we scrolled past a Christian station? Oh, and I think a Facebook friend may have posted a Bible verse on their wall. Surely we can go a bit longer before we stop for a fill-up?

Before you know it you will be on the road, out of gas, wondering why this happened to you. Don't be self-important. Rely on God. Read His Word to you. Follow the instructions God gave to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:6-9.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Don't ignore the E. You'll end up looking as foolish as a moped-pusher, which is definitely worse than a moped-driver.

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