Low on Juice?

For those of you who have closely been following the odyssey of my attempts to transform my 1987 Mercedes-Benz 300E from a luxury car to a daily driver that doesn’t strand me on reasonably warm days, I believe the end is in sight.

For now, anyways…

My car won’t start if it’s hot outside. I ran through the checklist of possibilities and was pretty sure that the battery was going south, but I had a local tech check it out a few weeks ago and he said it was fine. So I spent the past few weeks being mighty careful where I parked (in case I needed it towed). Life is interesting when your car is as reliable as mine. I didn’t bother checking other potential causes ‘cause they all involved BIG $$$. So I tried only to drive in the early morning or late evening (when I knew it would reliably start).

Case in point, I went on my regularly scheduled water delivery this past Tuesday morning. I started my car (Yay) then drove two miles to Food Lion. I started my car after picking up the water (Woohoo) and drove a quarter mile to a parking lot. I gave out water to some guys and offered a bottle to a police officer who was waiting for speeders. He thanked me, but politely declined. I started my car. Again! I drove to a gas station and filled up my tank. I start it again! I’m feeling pretty good now. I park my car and give out the rest of my water bottles. I hang around and chat for a while. Then I go to leave. Car won’t start. Crap.

I can’t believe this. It’s not even noon yet … So … a migrant worker gives me a jump start, and the car starts up. I’m thinking … this HAS to be my battery! Sooooo …. I drive to Walmart to pick up some stuff and decide to test things by (once again) parking where I know a tow truck can get me. I get my stuff, return to the car, and once again it won’t start. This time, my guardian angels were a pair of good-ol-boys who were waiting with their landscaping equipment a few rows away. They got my car started and I drove to the Walmart Tire Lube Express. They didn’t have my stock battery in stock. Crap.

I went to my car, raised the hood, and decided I WAS going to get a battery right there and then. I pulled out my tool kit, disconnected the battery cables and lifted the battery out. I found the problem. You see, when they tested my battery, the tech was under the assumption that the battery was the correct one for my year and model car (a minimum of 550 Cold Cranking Amps). The test resulted in 596 CCA. “Battery’s fine,” I was told. When I pulled out my battery, I saw that it was not a stock 550 CCA, but a much more powerful 805 CCA battery. My battery was running at only 75% of its rated power; no wonder it’d go dead when days got hot! Mystery solved, I replaced the battery with an 850 CCA beast. I was so happy when I got behind the wheel of my car (that is until I turned the key and it wouldn’t start).

The Walmart folks were kind enough to help jump start my car, which I then took on the open road towards Warrenton to recharge the battery. Say what you will about the dependability of a 22 year old Benz, you can’t tell how fast you’re going unless you keep an eye on the speedometer. They are SMOOTH on the open road, and the faster you go, the happier the engine sounds. (Al, if you’re reading this, let the record state that I complied with the law insomuch as I was able to being that I kept my eyes on the road instead of the speedometer) J Ever since my trip on the Autobahn – uh, Route 29, my car has started even when it’s obscenely hot (so far).

What causes pain in our lives and why?

Why do we so often put our faith in stuff or beliefs that aren’t reliable?

Instead of burying our heads in the sand, or going around from person to person (getting the wrong advice), how can we tackle the problems that plague us?

Does God want me to live in bondage and misery, or does He want me to experience freedom and joy?
(Note: freedom and joy do not necessarily come with health and wealth)

How are our lives transformed when we finally believe the Gospel?

You know what the Gospel is? It means Good News.

The Gospel tells us that God is loving and just. That what separates us from Him (sin) has been defeated on the Cross of Christ. That He loves us just as we are, but He also loves us too much to for us to stay this way. That He’s in control of everything on this planet and beyond. That He cares about your pain, your low self-esteem, and the questions that don’t let you fall asleep at night. That He is in the process of establishing His Kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven. That God is love.

That is the TRUTH to me, and I find life is filled with joy and peace (despite my circumstances) when I put my trust in Him.

I love you all, my dear friends.

Remember that God loves you much more than you can imagine.

Related Verses
John 3:1-21
There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
“How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. ”

Romans 8:31-40
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.