Running on Empty

I know better. After eight times, believe me, I know better.

But I can't stop doing it. It's just a matter of time before I do it again.

What on earth is he talking about?

I'm talking about running out of gas. Eight times now in my life I have run out of gas in my car. Fortunately, the majority of the time it's been in my own neighborhood or even my own driveway. But twice this year I've run out of gas on the way to work, including once on the interstate.

I admit it, I can't seem to change the behavior. The fuel guage gets under a quarter of a tank, no problem.

Now it's under an eighth of a tank, plenty of gas left.

The fuel light just came on, everyone knows you can still go a good 20 miles with the light on.

I always seem to wait until I'm completely empty before stopping to fill up my tank again. And so sometimes I just completely go dry.

There is always something to do, somewhere to go, something more urgent or important than stopping to fuel up. I'll do it this evening. I'll do it tomorrow. I'll fill up soon, just not right now.

I find myself doing the same thing in my spiritual life. Instead of taking time every day to fill my tank- reading and meditating on scripture, spending extended time in prayer, writing- I keep putting them off. I make something else a priority or a more urgent task.

I'll get to that just as soon as I...fill in the blank.

Before long I find my spiritual tank completely dry because I waited too long to fuel up and now it's empty.

In each of our lives we have things that fill our tanks, and things that drain our tanks. Those of you raising children with special needs know the unique things that drain our tanks daily. All of us know the things that we all face that can drain our tanks- jobs, careers, finances, raising children, tasks and responsibilities.

Each of us faces more than enough things every day to completely drain our tanks.

And if we don't make it a priority- the main thing- to fill our tanks every day, we'll run on empty and dry up.

Every day be sure to fill up your tank. You need spiritual fuel to run on for maximum efficiency and performance. Just like your car engine needs gas.

Take it from a guy who has sat stranded on the side of highway in a blazing sun with the smell of diesel fuel from semis up his nose wishing his priorities had been different that day. Fill up!