Keeping A Full Tank

Have you ever ran out of gas?  When Josh is really tired, he will say "I'm running out of gas.."  But have you ever literally just let your vehicle run out of gas and you have to call someone to come and bring you gas?  I have. Only it was before we had cell phones.  It was the day before our wedding day and I left work at noon.  When I pulled out of work, had I made a right turn, there would have been a gas station for me to fill up, but nope, I chose to turn left because I just knew that I was fine to make it home. Wrong. I worked 9 miles from Bloomfield. I ran out of gas probably 5 miles from Bloomfield.  So, I get out of my car and walk to the nearest house.  Yep, that's what I did.  They gave me what gas they had, which apparently wasn't that much because a mile up the road, I ran out of gas again.  Seriously. So, I get out and walk to the nearest house again and ask if they have any gas.  The guy says "No, but I have a tank, I will take you to town."  So I get in his car.  I swear, I am not making this up.  The guy drove an old school Camaro Iroc Z.  He had long hair and reminds me now somewhat of Joe Dirt.  Again, I promise you that I am not making this up. So,we take off  for Bloomfield.  It never once crossed my mind that this guy could just take off with me.  All I had on my mind was that I was getting married the next day. We get to town and pull into the gas station and I look over and see Josh's Grandma.  Oh. My. Goodness. I was scared and it was so uncomfortable sitting there, trying to hide my face for fear that they would see me.   I was NOT at peace lol.   She never saw me but I can only imagine what she would have thought had she seen me in this camaro at a gas station with some guy who has a mullet with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth pumping gas into a gas tank.  We finally made it back to my car and he put the gas in my car and on my way I went.  Not a worry in the world.  But seriously.  How ridiculous is all of that and how horribly wrong all of that could have went!  All because I chose to take a chance and do what I knew wasn't the best option.  Well, the other day, before I headed to work,  I dropped Emily off at Josh's Grandparents house. When I got to the end of their road, I see this:

I could have turned left to go to Bloomington and stopped at Eastern to get gas.  I knew this was a risky choice because it is quite a bit farther to Eastern than it is to Bloomfield. And there is only 1 gas station at Eastern and what if it was closed?  But I still considered turning left.  And then I remembered the camaro  from August 18th, 2000.  And then I sat there and realized that I do this all the time.  I seem to choose the hardest route.  The route that I am taking a chance, vs the route that I KNOW will get me where I need to be.  So, I turned right toward Bloomfield and filled up my gas tank.  How many times in our lives have we chosen the wrong path or decision, all because we think we can do it on our own or it may seem quicker?  Only to find out that we were totally wrong and if we had just done what we knew was right, it would have been much easier?  I swear, I do this all the time.  Sometimes, it has been really big stuff and other times, really small stuff.  Read Proverbs 28:26. Yep, that sums it up.  Foolish.  Why do you think we choose the harder way of doing things?  For me, it usually either has to do with being in a hurry, scared of what someone will say or honestly just seeing if I can get away with it (Like thinking I could make it to town on an empty gas tank).  God doesn't want that for our life.  He wants us to live our lives to the fullest.  If we are testing Him (and ourselves) by thinking that we can do things on our own, we are being foolish.  And when we don't do the right thing and think we can get away with what seems the easier way, really we are just wasting time because eventually, it will catch up with us.  And then how awful is that?  When I hitched that ride for gas, I think now how terribly wrong that could have went. And when I think back on my life, on the decisions that I made on a whim, the decisions that seemed OK at the time, even though I knew it was wrong, the truth (or the right way) always came out.  And boy was it hard, and exhausting.   And then I thought to myself, I would have just been better off to take the right direction. It may have been inconvenient or hard at the time, but if we do the right thing, if we take the right direction in our life, we will be kept safe.  We can continue to live everyday for God.  When we make the right choices, we don't run out of gas, physically, we keep our tanks replenished.    Doing the right thing will not exhaust you.  It might be scary, it might take a little more time and disrupt your day.   And it might even be a little uncomfortable.  But it is totally worth it to keep your tank full and prepared for God's work and to keep your peace.