Unshackled Moments ~ October 8 ~ Jump Start

I just hooked a battery charger up to the battery on my motorcycle. It's around 30 minutes until I have to leave for work, and I wanted to make sure that I would be able to crank the bike. Leah and I have been on vacation, which means that the motorcycle hasn't been started in a week. If the bike sits that long, it rarely will start. If it gets cool overnight, it almost never starts, as it seems the battery doesn't have enough cranking power to turn over the cold engine. When you add sitting for a week and multiple cool night temperatures together, it wasn't even a question. I knew the battery would be dead. I did turn the key on and hit the starter button to be sure, but all I heard was the expected buzz of the low battery. The engine didn't even attempt to turn over.

Because I was prepared, I won't be late. Because I can plug the battery into an outside power source and charge it, I know I can get the motorcycle started and won't have problems with a low battery for the rest of the day. If it gets cool tonight I may have to jump the bike off again tomorrow, but that's what happens when you buy a cheap battery that doesn't have much cranking power or hold a good charge in the cold.

I don't hold a good charge either. I haven't got enough power on my own to get started well in the mornings. Maybe you can relate. If you can, don't forget that while it may be all too easy to see the old nature reflecting back in the mirror at the start of the day, we can wake the new creation within us up with the help of a spiritual jump start. We plug ourselves into the ultimate power source, the Holy Spirit, first thing, knowing that we don't have the power within ourselves. Once we have enough juice to get started the alternator the new spirit within us keeps us charged and in tune with the spirit for the rest of the day. Start off right today and plug into Him.

Unshackled Moments ~ October 7 ~ Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

You don't go by feelings, but it's good to feel what you're going on.

Don Hurley

That feeling you get when you know God is near is nice, wonderful evening. Sometimes it is so clear that you're in the presence of the Creator it's almost electric. It's nice to feel what you're going on, but as nice as those feelings are, they are not an indicator to be trusted. God allows those feelings, those sensations, those responses to the Holy Spirit as He wills, but their presence does not always prove we are in His flow, and their absence does not prove the negative. The key, and what we go on is faith, not feeling. "Trust and obey, for there's no other way..." regardless of what we feel. Today let us remember that the warm fuzzies may be nice but they are not necessary. Let us simply determine to believe and act on that belief, knowing He is near because He promised to be there, no matter what we feel.

Unshackled Moments ~ October 6 ~ Man's Best Friend

My wife has a little female Cavalier named Izzy that I don't like. I think she's cute but brainless. One of the things that annoys me about her is that she gets tangled up worse than a Brittany Spaniel. She jumps up on a wood pile near her dog house and gets her lead tangled up to the point where she can't get down. Then she stands there and yelps until I untangle her. I tell her that if she'd quit being stupid and jumping up there she'd quit getting tangled up, but of course she can't understand me. It's frustrating.

I wonder if that's how God sometimes feels about me. Sometimes it feels like I keep making the same mistakes over and over. That I just can't get it through my thick skull that the easiest thing would be to quit jumping on the wood pile, but I seem to only remember about the time I notice I'm tangled up again.  Then I yelp for help, and He comes to my aid. If I were God I would tell myself the next time I get hung up I'm on my own so stop being stupid. But God doesn't do that.

God's grace says keep coming back. Keep asking for help. His grace is sufficient to help me stop jumping on the wood pile, but when I do, h\He is faithful to help and forgive. I still get the consequences of being tangled up. My life is not as good or comfortable. But I don't have to be afraid that acting like a stupid dog that can't learn not to make the same mistakes is going to make Him wish He could trade me in for another model. And neither do you.

Unshackled Moments ~ October 5 ~ Let Freedom Ring

Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons— Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two.

Psalm 107:10 & 13-16

Living outside of God's will can feel like a prison,especially when it leads to addictions and patterns of behavior that we can't seem to shake. On our own strength we, like Paul, may find ourselves repeatedly doing the things we swore we wouldn't do anymore, the things we hate, the things we know are wrong, while failing to do what we know is right.

But we have something more than our own strength. We have God's assurance that He is able to break down the gates of our prison, to cut the bars that keep us in two and to unshackle our chains. We can call out to Him when we need to escape our bondage. We don't have to get cleaned up before we turn to God. We don't have to start doing what is right before we get His help in doing what is right. We don't have to free ourselves. No matter how many times we have tried and failed to stop our addictions, bad habits and poor decisions, no matter how many times we have quit even trying to stop and just went with the flow of old behavior that we were just too tired to fight and even somewhat enjoyed, He can turn and will set us free when we turn to Him in surrender.

Today let us remember that our freedom is in Christ and not our will, determination or strength.

Unshackled Moments ~ October 4 ~ Missing The Kick

Last Sunday Randy Bullock was a professional football player. He kicked extra points for the Houston Texans. This week he lost his job. The past two seasons he made 66 extra points out of 66 attempts, a perfect record. This year he missed two. The second miss came Sunday, and even though the Texans won the game, Bullock lost his job.

Sometimes life feels this way. We're cruising along with a perfect record, then something changes (like distance being added to the extra point kick). Then we make a mistake or two, maybe a mistake that doesn't even cost the game, and suddenly it seems like everyone is against us and we're losing everything we've worked for. Praise God that it doesn't work that way with Him, regardless of how it may feel. God is the original make things right King. He's all about second and hundredth chances and restoration. Grace says where we're weak He will be the strength we need rather than firing us for not being perfect. So, when it feels like no matter how hard we try we can't be perfect, don't be afraid of being cut from the team. Just ask the coach for help. His grace is sufficient when the kick is too much for us to make on our own.

Unshackled Moments ~ October 3 ~ Deeper Than Desperation

Desperate people pray. When people become desperate and or afraid they pray. They cry out to God for help, even when they are not sure if there is a God. A significant percentage of professed atheists admit to praying on a regular basis. The prayers of the desperate are sometimes referred to as 911 calls. They are the most simple prayers. God help.

People are not fond of being called on in this way. We quickly become tired of annoyed with people who only seem to try to contact us when they are in need. But God's ways are not our ways, and  He hears us when we call. He never looks at the caller Id thinking "I wonder what they need now?" before letting that call go to voice mail. He is generous with His attention and  quick to respond when we reach out to Him, even in doubt and desperation.

Many a spiritual journey has begun from such a place of desperation. God doesn't hold it against us that we may have only sought Him, relationship with Him and His aid when all else failed and we reached the end of our rope. So we need not fear His rejection if we continue to come to Him with our needs and fears. But if we want to be fully satisfied and content in our lives, we need to go beyond the prayers of desperation.

The truth is that life begins in the presence of the Creator. To have a life worth living we need to seek and stay in the place of relationship with our Heavenly Daddy. It may seem like a restriction or a burden at first, but true freedom comes from joining our spirit with His and tethering ourselves to Him. Today let us spend time in the awareness of who He is and our relationship with Him that goes deeper than the difficulties of the day.

Unshackled Moments ~ October 2 ~ Don't Race Solo

NASCAR racers may seem like they have a pretty easy task. All they have to do is drive around in an oval and  all their turns are in the same direction. I used to hate NASCAR for much this reason. It seemed boring and pointless to watch people driving in circles, and like  many, I only wanted to see the wrecks. But the reason that wrecks are common is that there are more dangers in the race than are obvious.  The truth is  that there is  a lot of strategy involved in a race to position the driver in a place where they can safely finish the race and  do so in such a way as to come to the end as close to being the winner as possible.

If a driver attempts to make those decisions on their own they can get into trouble fast. The driver simply can't see everything they need to know, and he can't make  the mechanical adjustment s that need to be made. But the driver is not alone. There is a pit crew that changes the tires, keeps the car fueled up, makes minor mechanical adjustments to keep the car running its best. And there are spotters seated high above the track. The spotters can see what is happening in front, behind and around the driver they are helping. The tell the driver when they need to slow or speed up, when to go high on the track or low. When something dangerous has occurred or is developing.  Without the spotter, the driver can only perceive a small portion of what is going on around them, and at close to 200 mph, that is a very dangerous situation indeed.

We are running a race, and life is going by fast. No matter how skilled we are, no matter how wise, we can't do it ourselves. We need our spotter, the Holy Spirit, to guide us safely through the dangers and obstacles of life. And we need a pit crew, others who can help keep us going. And though we are driving in our race, we can't just drive through life. We become pit crew for other drivers, helping with encouragement, support and prayer.  Running around our track, it's easy to get caught up in the race and what's going on around us and forget that we're not alone. After all, there's no one in the car with us. But today let us remember that as fast as life goes by, we were never meant to run our race ourselves and that we are called to help others run theirs.