GOD LIKES ME BEST

I have mentioned several times in this blog, if you've been steadily reading (and why wouldn't you be?), that my life seems to consist of one unfortunate incident after another. A good friend of mine used to tell me - actually he STILL tells me this - that between the two of us, God quite simply LIKES him better because this weird stuff never happens to him - just to me. I'm 68.2% sure his theology is a little warped on that one, but some days I DO wonder.

So this week we were returning from spending several days with Joelene's parents in Kentucky (see June 9th blog) and we're driving along at 70 mph somewhere north of Indianapolis, minding our own business, when all of a sudden our car started to lose power, slow down, sputter and eventually stop. Yeah - right there on Interstate 65. I had the presence of mind to pull over to the side of the road far enough to get to safety while cars and trucks whizzed by us, smiling those "God likes all of us better, too" smiles at us as they passed.

I admit that over the past couple of weeks I had noticed my fuel gauge acting strangely. It mysteriously ROSE once or twice when it shouldn't have - but I didn't pay that much attention. I just figured God was making my gasoline S-T-R-E-T-C-H during this wicked time of fuel prices, proving He truly DOES like me. So, when the tank went empty even though the gauge indicated it was over 25% full - well ... frankly ... because these things just routinely HAPPEN to me, no one was less shocked than I, except maybe for my theological friend.

Now I KNOW I have this propensity for turning everyday mishaps into spiritual journeys - like LEAKY FAUCETS (see May 29th blog), CAR SHOPPING (April 19th & May 20th), HAIRCUTS (May 13th), EATING (May 3rd), etc. But honestly, the tie-ins are so OBVIOUS to me.

We pay lopsided attention to a lot of life gauges that turn out to be pretty faulty and unreliable. We trust in our FEELING gauge - which couldn't be LESS trustworthy. Our feelings are rarely in line with reality.

We trust faulty FACTS rather than TRUTH (Fact: The gas gauge said 'You have 1/4 tank of gas left.' I know because I was looking right at it while the car was sputtering down to zero mph. Truth: The tank was empty). Raw TRUTH always trumps mere FACTS.

We trust faulty RELATIONAL gauges -- things people say -- looks people give -- attitudes we read into replies. And to make matters worse, we filter comments and remarks others make thru our own crud.

The most accurate gauges are the ones we ignore. Take our PHYSICAL gauges, for example --- they scream at us when it's time to slow down, put there by the God who loves us in order to prompt us to stop, rest, recoup and breathe. Instead, we push ourselves into oblivion, ignoring the signals our bodies are giving us.

I am paying more attention to the right gauges in my life these days -- and when my own gauges are occasionally wrong or inaccurate, I am learning to stay connected to my Source (Father God) to keep my system from embarrassingly losing steam or shorting out in the middle of the action or finding my tank going drip dry right when I'm going strong.

So REALLY, this "running out of gas on the Interstate cool kind of stuff" never happens to my theological friend. And now that I think about it, I'm not sure God really DOES like him best after all.

And be blessed.