Giving It All You Have

Yesterday marked the closeout of the month for our Toyota and Hyundai stores which are side by side here in Daphne, Al. It is always a stressful time, especially when hitting a forecast number is necessary, going down to the wire before it happens sometimes. Thankfully we hit it again, but unfortunately we did not finish in the customary #1 spot in our region. Disappointment, but a great month all around none the less.

Life is just like that sometimes, we give all we have, and we find ourselves a little short of where we wanted or needed to be. I think of the apostle Peter who was a zealot, a hard charger, thought he had his spiritual life at maximum capacity, but yet always seemed to come up short when it was on the line. That is, until his sermon after Pentecost when he was filled with the truth.

The truth is, when we feel like we have given it all we have, and have fallen short, God still has another gear. So we can't be discouraged just because we don't finish in the top spot at that moment, or if we don't achieve a goal we were striving for, because we live to fight another day.
And, if we use the power of the Holy Spirit that God has given us as believers, there is no telling how far we can go, as long as we are giving it all we have for the right situation.

If you recall the apostles seemed to have minimal power on their own to accomplish anything. It was only after an empowerment of the truth, the Holy Spirit, that they became all they were meant to be. Seems a little strange to compare the situation at a car dealership with a movement of faith, but when it comes down to it, this is where we live, on earth, and every day we all face challenges of this sort.

Someone said the other day that too many people are "living small". The thought process is that if we don't take too many risks, if we don't try to overachieve, we will make it just fine. However, I never read a word about Jesus living small, all I read was about him giving it all he had.

So it must be up to us to decide whether we will use that other gear to achieve something great that God has in store for us. When we are worn out, our eyes water with fatigue, our feet move so slowly we feel like we are walking in mud, or like Jesus, the weight of the world is on our shoulders, and we collapse from sheer exhaustion.......

It is at those moments we see what Isaiah meant, "But those that hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings of eagles", and giving it all we have will lead us into the flight of a lifetime!   

Glenn