Flat Tires

I can't even remember how many sharp objects I've gotten embedded in my car tires in the last few years.  Most of the time, I don't even know it happens until one day I randomly notice that one tire seems to look a little more squishy than the others.  You know...one of those slow leaks.  I tend to milk it a while.  I'll fill it back up with air and drive around for a few more weeks.  The temporary fix seems to solve the immediate issue, but I know I eventually need to take it to the mechanic to get it patched.

This last time was different though.  Everything was fine until I got to work, but then a few hours later I was informed that someone noticed I had a flat.  Seriously?!  Sure enough, after trying to fill it back up, you could actually hear the air hissing back out again.  The culprit?  One LARGE screw.  Nice.  There was no temporary fix for this one.  Thankfully, we have a super nice shop guy who stepped in to save the day and helped me swap it out for my spare.  Wait...what am I saying?  "Helped me"?!  Ha...in actuality, I did nothing but stand there and watch.  :-)  He did all the work. 

This might be a stretch, but isn't that a little bit like life?  Most of the time, we go about our daily routine thinking everything is fine.  But all the while there's that little something that's got you worried or that little irritation that's starting to fester.  You don't even realize it's there.  But then you start noticing you're not feeling as full as you'd like.  Your energy level is depleted.  You're a little less joyful.  You start feeling disconnected.  Sure, you can push it under the rug for a while, and you can go a few more weeks without addressing it.  But really, you know the only sure way of stopping the leak it is to actually deal with it and get it patched.  Eventually, you realize the only real solution is to take it to God to get it fixed.

Then, similar to my most recent flat, there are those times in life when there's no denying there's a major problem.  You're knocked flat on your back, and you're not going anywhere.  One LARGE screwed up mess takes over, and in an instant, your life feels like it's over.  There's no temporary fix.  There's no running away.  There's nothing you can do.  Thankfully, I know I have Jesus to run to.  He steps in to help me and save me.
   
In a way, isn't this, in essence, also a picture the story of salvation?  God has swapped out my old, dead life that's not going anywhere, and He's made me brand new.  I certainly can't do anything to save myself.  His grace does all the work.  He is the only true, permanent solution...the only completely inexhaustible source of life.   

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.