Sunday Mornin' Hope : Runnin' on empty

by Psalmist October 18th 2014, 8:18 pm

Matthew 14:9And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. 10So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. 11And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

Feeding the Five Thousand
R60 13 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.

What do you do when you're out of strength and people are pressing you? Maybe some people are sent by God to test 'your metal'. You might be past your deadline or down to the wire and someone just comes in to shoot the breeze. You are running on empty and still there is a draw on you. Maybe you have trouble saying "No." and now your workload is crazy big. What do you do?

This afternoon my wife and I road out to a bbq place. What great weather for a ride. The temps were mid seventies and sunny. We enjoyed the countryside. I had put $5 in the tank earlier this week. When we got to the place my gas light was on. I forgot to put some in. It was about 25 miles to the next gas station and my bike averages about 35 mpg. But how long had I been riding on reserve? I watched as the fuel gage needle dropped below the line. I didn't know it could get that low with the key on. I slowed down on the highway and let everyone pass me. I was no longer 'qualifying'. You know you're going slow when station wagons pass you. The fuel gauge needle stopped dropping. The float in the tank must've landed on dry ground. About a mile ahead I could see the familiar Pilot gas station. I idled as much as possible to get there. I had visions of my wife and I pushing this 1000 lb boat to the station. My first thought was me pushing her on the bike but her legs are too short. Then I thought about her pushing me on the bike. That might work, but we kept going. We pulled into the gas station and I filled up the tank. Many Honda's I've owned had a tank of 6.3 gallons capacity. I filled the tank and it read 6.31 gallons. I thought maybe we were running on fumes till I looked at the owners manual and it said 6.74 gallon capacity. Still we were closer to empty than I ever wanted to be.

Last summer on our Sturgis/Yellowstone trip one of the guys ran out of gas near the Wyoming/Colorado border. Thankfully one of the guys always carried a small gas can full of gas on his trailer. That inspired me to get a gas can for my trailer at our next stop. You never know when you're going to be homing out on the range where only deer and buffalo play.

In the scripture above Jesus gets word that His cousin John the baptist was murdered by evil King Herod. His wife's daughter danced for him and he promised her anything up to half his kingdom. She demanded John's head on a platter. Being fully human I think Jesus might have been very upset and just wanted to get away and cry. If I was there and had His power, I might have planned a nuclear bomb bigger than anything Japan saw and dropped it in Herod's home. Just nuke'em all and ask questions later. But not Jesus. "He was moved with compassion and healed and fed this massive crowd that was following Him.

"18He said, "Bring them here to Me." 19Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. "

If you read the rest of the chapter it gets even gooder. Jesus presses His disciples to get into a boat in the middle of the night and cross the lake in a storm. These guys had to be exhausted too. Feeding 5,000 men (not counting wives and children) is no small task. Then picking up after them was no small task either. Sometimes God will calm your storm. Other times He will meet you in the middle of it. Like the cocoon that builds up the butterfly's strength and gets it to fly, God gives you tests to show you that you can conquer mighty storms. "With God all things are possible" You have more available in the Spirit than you know. Ask in faith and see what God will do in you and through you.

Maybe you're in a storm right now and feel like you're running on empty. The Bible says to walk by faith and not by sight. What we see might overwhelm us like a storm. Don't let the lightning and thunder distract you. Go forward in Jesus strength. "The joy of the Lord is our strength." Go forward in that joy and strength. I hope you have a super week and get some great riding in. With these great gas prices, you owe yourself and wife some good bbq at a distant restaurant. Remember I'm praying for you. Oh yeah, gas up first.