Quail Lake Community Church

Daily Devotional #1,459

One of the things that I ended up collecting is trains. It wasn’t planned, it just kind of happened. I have different scales (sizes) of trains and the one that I use each Christmas around our tree is the G scale. The G scale is the largest scale and so it can be detailed, and it is easier to handle because of its size. But the thing that I like most about it is that it is so very quiet. Because of that, we can run one of these trains around our tree and it doesn’t disturb anyone else in the room. I had several transformers, the unit that plugs into the wall and then brings the electricity to the track and ultimately to the train to make it operate. I found that I had inherited this really nice-looking transformer and so this Christmas I hooked it up to our set. A lot of my stuff is second hand, and the engine was noisy this year. I tried everything I could think of to quiet it down. I took a couple of them apart and cleaned and oiled them and still they made noise. I have a buddy who is a real expert on this, and he said he’d look at my engines to see if he could restore them to the way they were supposed to run. I grabbed some track, my engines and an extra transformer and took it out to his house. We set it up and applied power…and the engine ran as silently as it originally did. We tried several more and all of them suddenly were working like they were supposed to. I asked him what he thought might have been the problem and he looked at the transformer and said, “Did you check the voltage on your other transformer?” I told him no and when I brought my stuff back home, I checked the newer, bigger transformer and found…it was indeed the wrong voltage. My friend explained that the train didn’t have the voltage it needed to run right and that the wrong current to the engine would make it still go around the track…but it wasn’t getting what it needed to run the way, quietly, the manufacturer had designed it. I was thrilled to know that all my stuff was ok…it just needed to be hooked up to the right source of power. I thought about that and couldn’t help but think that is what we see in our world today. We see people able to work, play, love and live…but not the way that God had intended. These people are usually not broken any more than the rest of us by the sin that is in our world. The problem is that they are not getting their power from the source that they were designed to tap into. God is the one who gives us the power to do all the things that we are designed and destined to do in this life. Without him, we can struggle along and pretty soon we accept that “extra imperfection” as just the way it is. When all the time…we just need to change the source of our power. The manufacturer’s manual, the Bible, tells us that we are designed to have the power of this Jesus running in us and through us. So, don’t go limping through this life. Be the best and experience the best through the power that this Jesus brings to anyone who will choose to tap into it. It is free and with it comes this abundant life and best of all eternal life. Take a look at your power source today. A lot of stuff in your life can be transformed by tapping into this Jesus of the Bible. Don’t settle for second best!

Here’s our Bible verse for today…

2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

Remember I’m praying for you…
With love, PJ