A dead Battery

There I stood, coffee in hand, dressed to ride, excited to go meet my brothers for a poker run honoring a fallen brother from a local club. My battery had been giving me some trouble of late, but I kept putting off buying a new one. Money has been tight and besides, as long as it was still taking a charge and cranking—what the heck, right? I turned on the switch…womp…womp…womp…waaaaaa…click, click, click. I text my brothers to let them know I was dead in the water. I missed the run.

I remember a brother I rode with back in the old days that told me I should buy a battery tender. I never saw the need for one; I always thought they were for yuppies (laughing). Recently, I read up on how the battery tender can add a year, or sometimes two, to your battery life. Yes, there is a moral to this story.

I know many of you that ride, or don`t ride, know the feeling of disappointment, the feeling of being left behind as brothers or friends ride off into the wind. I also know that we all have dead batteries at times. Sometimes in our motorcycles, cars, and trucks—and sometimes our spiritual batteries go dead.

I grew up I AA meetings; I got sober in 1988. The old saying in AA was “Self will run riot.” Another one I liked was the acronym “NUTS” which stood for “Not Using The Steps.” In those days the AA book was my Bible—today, although I still attend meetings from time to time and cherish the lessons I learned in those rooms, the Bible is my point of reference.

When I think about running on my own power I see how fast—every time—that my spiritual battery goes dead. Jesus is a source of unending power, prayer is my battery tender, and self-will is like leaving my switch on—my battery will go dead every time.

As I have often stated here on this blog, I don`t speak down to my readers. I don`t ever want to seem like I`m trying to be some spiritual giant that speaks from on high. I`m a man who desperately needs Jesus, and I too fight the daily battles of the flesh. I laugh at myself because my mind sees the world in cartoons and Seinfeld episodes. God speaks lessons to me in simple ways—like a dead battery. I hope this story relates to someone. I hope the Lord uses this story to touch someone in the way it touched me—a fellow seeker of Christ. WP