Supercharged

Do you ever feel like you hit roadblocks in your spiritual life? You know you need to spend alone time with God, but don’t know how. You may even carve out time and then the distractions, the noises, the clutter come flowing in.  Our lives are incredibly “supercharged”.

 Yesterday one of my friends was talking about a supercharged Corvette. I am not a car person, so of course I’ve never heard of this kind of car. But as my friend went on a ride in this Corvette it went from 70mph to 90mph in a matter of seconds. Now that’s way cooler than my car, because I’m pretty sure my car would start shaking if I attempted to go 90mph. That’s probably a good thing, because the road is a lot safer with me not driving that fast.

 But this morning, I looked forward to spending quality time with God due to my morning off. And I carved out a chunk of time. And it was almost like I was antsy. I couldn’t get settled. So I begged Logan to make us coffee, hoping that would bring focus. Then I listened to music hoping that would tune my heart to singing joyful songs to the Lord! And then I was thinking- “I’m finally ready to sit and do a quiet time!” Just as I was finally getting “mentally prepared” I began to hear builders in our neighborhood stapling a house behind us or whatever they do. And I thought in my head “These people!!! I can’t focus in this house!” So I surveyed the room and saw the pile of laundry in my bedroom and I thought well maybe I should just start my morning chores!

 You see, this was not only my thought process this morning, it’s almost as if it happens many mornings. I hit roadblocks, as I want to spend quality time with God. And then as the Corvette story came back into my head, I had a realization. I expect to get supercharged in my relationship with God. I want to go from slumber to super focused in a matter of seconds! I want to go from helpless to holy in a matter of seconds.

 I think we live in a supercharged culture. “Go!” the world tells us, “go fast”, “ go without thinking”, “go pursue your dreams”, “go get your goals.” And we as humans do everything in our human power to make it all happen. Now, I’m not saying that I believe all of these things are bad. But the speed is. Because in our haste, in our speed, we are able to serve our own desires, without thinking of cause and effect, without thinking of what we truly believe or what God calls us to do.

 And we cannot separate ourselves from it. I’m always looking for the fast track, the easy track, the fun track. And I come to God expecting the same kind of speed, the same kind of results. I expect to have a supercharged relationship with Him. Results, actions, speed! And not just in a few weeks, or a few months, or a few years! But NOW!!!! When I don’t feel this speed with God immediately, like the world gives me, I want to quickly move onto the next item. I want something that will give me a feeling of speed, of fastness, of accomplishment.

 But what if I slowed down a little? What if I slowed down a lot? I wonder. Would I hear things differently? Would I be different? Instead of bringing God my schedule that says “Look God, I have about 15min for quiet time. Let’s make it easier for you and me. Can you just go ahead and speak to me in that 15min? Tell me something ground breaking in my 15min I give you. Tell me something life changing.” And we wonder why God hasn’t supercharged our lives in his allotted time frame. I sit here, and I instantly get it. You see in my life I demand God to move in my time I give him instead of realizing that every second of my time is a gift from Him. It’s ALL His; it was never mine to begin with. I’m here for His purpose, every second of my time. So why don’t I surrender to him every second of the day that I’m walking on this earth? It’s got to be pretty insulting to God, that we somewhat constrict God to moving in a time frame instead of always.

 And then I thought of Jesus’ first miracle in John 2 – Jesus Changes Water to Wine. Jesus was attending a wedding and they ran out of wine. Jesus’ mother went up to him and said “they have no more wine” (v3) and Jesus replied “Dear Woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come. (v4)” In other words Jesus said – Mom, really, right now? Why are you doing this now? I don’t think this is my time to shine yet! And suddenly, almost instantly there is a change in Verse 7. Jesus became supercharged. The wine turned to water. He went from 70mph to 90mph in a matter of seconds. He went from helpless to holy in a matter of seconds. Now I never really saw any significance in this story until today. I never even imagined this story would be relevant to being supercharged. But I think the key is that it comes in God’s timing not ours. It comes in His 15 minutes that he gives us, not the 15 minutes we give him. So walk around knowing that if God is in you, he will work in wonderful ways, he will work unexpectedly. He will change water to water in His own timing.

Once I acknowledged the fact that it comes in His timing and not my own, I instantly overcome my roadblocks. I quit limiting when and how God would work. I realized that God can and will work in his timing and how he wants to! So will God supercharge us? My hope is yes! I think he will! Let’s tune our hearts to the power that comes from Jesus alone. Not from our own willpower. Maybe some days it will come fast, maybe some days it will come slowly. Whenever it does come, let’s be ready! Let’s live life knowing he can and will change any second of our days!