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Pastor's Page

Posted on November 19, 2004 ...

Much of my last week has been on the road. Between attending the Tennessee Baptist Convention last week in Sevierville, taking a couple of study days near Bryson City, preaching revival meetings in Harriman, and traveling to Canton, North Carolina for the honor of conducting Marie Fletcher’s graveside service, I have logged quite a few miles behind the wheel of my car. How many miles? I honestly do not know! The odometer on my 1992 Buick stopped turning at least five years ago. Since then, the odometer reading maintains an unchanging 137,913.3 miles. But while the odometer has stopped, the motor keeps running along! Given the options, I figure it is better to have a broken odometer and a working engine than to have a working odometer and a broken engine!

Perhaps there is a lesson here for matters of life and heart. We love measurements. Vehicles have gages for any number of things: speed, distance, time, depth, height, longevity, pressure, temperature, volume, etc. But what really matters is whether or not the engine is running and being productive. Are you being productive for the Lord? Are you getting a job done? That is far more important than the measure of your age, experience, speed or any other gage. We may get a few miles on us and not be as sharp as we once were, but let’s work all our days and live until we die!

Satchel Paige once asked, How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? It makes me wonder… If my Buick’s odometer WAS working and that car somehow knew how many miles it had run, would it just shut down and quit? It seems better that neither of us knows how far it has gone. Sure, someday the old Buick will quit for good. Until then, I’ll keep driving my faithful friend: 137,913.3 miles and holding!

Pastor’s P.S. While I do not know how many miles I have logged, I figure that I spent the equivalent of one day this past week in the car. I look forward to staying close to home for a while! See you Sunday with a word for Thanksgiving.