Make Sure the Power is Engaged!

    I love using power tools. They can make life much easier and complete projects that are hard to do with manpower alone. Yet power tools are only useful when they are connected to the power source and used properly. A cordless drill is pretty useless when the battery is depleted. Charge it again, and you're ready to go! And what about heavy equipment? What young boy hasn’t dreamed about crawling into the seat of a backhoe and moving some dirt!

    Recently I was doing a brush removal project and happened to get a little farther into a ditch than I had planned. As I tried to back out, all I could do was spin the wheels. Now, this was not your ordinary garden implement so there were quite a few knobs, levers, lights, and switches.  Add to that my limited experience in the fine art of heavy equipment operation, and you can see the problem. Fortunately, I was not alone in this project, so we put our heads together to work our way out of the wayside predicament. We tried lumber under the back tires. Gravel was added for traction. Much digging, moving, and replacing soil took place. After nearly two hours of such fruitless efforts, it was getting so bad that one friend even threw out the idea of calling AAA for a pull out. (We threw that idea out just as quickly. I really doubt that AAA covers Yard equipment.) Somewhere in the morass of it all, I came to the conclusion that, although we had tried most of the various levers and knobs, it still was not engaging into 4-wheel drive.  Hey, I may not be an expert operator, but I am a better-than-average troubleshooter. In desperation, we decided to phone a friend who had experience with this particular piece of equipment, being very careful to not give away our embarrassing situation. 

“There’s a knob on the left of the driver’s seat. Pull up on the knob, and you should see a light come on of a truck with an arrow symbol under it.” 

Oh, yes that was so intuitive. I should have noticed that right away! – NOT! Knob in hand, ear protection on, seatbelt securely fastened (always use proper PPE!) and praying with my eyes open, I proceeded to ease the vehicle into reverse. The strangest thing happened. I back smoothly onto the road with seemingly little effort. Interestingly enough, it took longer to backfill the tire holes than it did to move the brush aside that got me stuck in the first place.

So what did we learn? Always make sure the power is engaged! And what about our spiritual power? There is power in the Word of God. The Spirit of God is power. There is power in prayer. There is power in good companions, in good community. Are you trying to do God's work in your own strength or are you “plugged in” to His power? It will make all the difference!

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV