Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 15, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Much more than 12 volts
I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength.
We needed milk and so we headed to the grocery store. But our remote keys wouldn’t open the car. And when we opened the car with our manual key, our wonderful orange-bagged tiny Weego jump charger that we keep under the front seat wouldn’t start the car. This battery was too dead. It was getting dark. We weren’t going anywhere.
I charged up little Weego and tried again the next morning. This time the charger lit up like a Christmas tree and made a 30 second-long nasty blare. A big green bulb on the front lights up when it’s time to start the car. That wasn’t on, though. There was a big red bulb instead, one that I’d never seen before. THE BATTERY IS TOO DEAD – that’s what the red bulb means. Those dark words are on the back.
My little jump starter has worked really well several times, for me and our neighbors in Urbana. I felt sad when it didn’t work, no miracle rising out of the orange bag. I felt alone too. I went right inside and renewed our AAA membership. I hadn’t planned to renew, since I haven’t used it once. But I might use it tomorrow, or the next day, or …
I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
But really, it feels OK to be stranded at home, even if it’s for a day or two. The less “power” available to me, the more I am free to rely on what comes from the inside out, and I much more quickly call that the power of God. God’s power, God’s freedom, God’s word cleanses me and pours over everything around me, and cleanses that too.
Margaret also feels this way. When I leave for Illinois on Thursday this week, she’ll be much more alone and “stranded” herself than she normally is. Andi will be available, and they’ll have some nice visits, and Jasper will be here for a couple of days, but otherwise, Margaret won’t have a car or a driver and will have plenty of alone time.
She is very good at sitting still. I have no doubt that the power of God will be there for her too, rising up and flowing from the inside out.
I have waited, waited for the Lord and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.
We woke up this morning, and we read our devotion, prayed for our families and friends, and sang a song. We sang “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” with a simple piano accompaniment provided by Grace Community Church in San Antonio. I thought how much more reliable God is than our Prius battery. Although I know that Jasper turned on a light he didn’t turn off, and I may have done the same thing, and well, what’s a battery to do?
Great is thy faithfulness O God my father.
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not,
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
So I plan to sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is a new day. Aki has jumper cables, Amazon will deliver a stronger jump charger overnight. The boys are spending Sunday night with us and we’re headed north to a fun restaurant and our local Aldi (only an hour away) on MLK Monday.
Will that all happen? Who knows? We’ve had a few days without water in the last month. Our son in Urbana has had floods in his basement and other problems upstairs. We’re getting older and achier every day. Bob Dylan wrote in his fine folk song, “Walkin Down the Line:” My money comes and goes, it rolls and flows through the holes in the pockets of my clothes. Oh my goodness, so much to worry about!
But there’s that other song … there is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided,
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
(Isaiah 49, Psalm 40, 1 Corinthians 1, John 1)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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