Someone recently told me that "Jeep" means "Just Empty Every Pocket." Thinking of all the projects I've done on my jeep, I began to think it was true until they told me that the jeep is the most accessorized vehicle on the planet. A few weeks ago I replaced the front leaf springs on my jeep. I had never replaced springs before, so I took out the repair manual and followed the 5 easy steps. The first side went great. The old parts came off easily and the new went on quickly. The manual said to do one side at a time, so I tightened the new side and started work on the other. That's where the difficulty started. I had to grind off the old parts and finally was able to install the new. But I had a problem. In the middle of the spring is an alignment pin that protrudes both top and bottom of the spring. I could not get the top aligned with the bottom, no matter what I tried. I asked my friends what they thought. Rick said I should buy a new car. David works in a body shop and I thought he would know what to do. He said, "I know your problem. Did you tighten up the other side?" "Yes" I replied. "Loosen it and you will be able to move the axle and get everything aligned." After loosening 4 bolts everything snapped into place. I realized the Lord was teaching me an important lesson. How many times do we struggle with things of life when we need to loosen something else in order for it to click into place? By now you have heard that I'm on a sabbatical. The sabbatical is like loosening the 4 bolts so that the other areas of my life might begin to click into place. There are many commands in the Bible which we know we ought to do, yet struggle with doing it because we are too busy. Jesus said to "love your neighbor" and "to make disciples." We hold up such commands as mandates, yet how often do we strike up conversations with our neighbors or take the time to share our faith? We might claim we are too busy so the command gets set aside for another day, perhaps forever. What could we loosen up in our lives that we might give us more opportunities to do what we believe? Could you go through your day allowing God to set your agenda as you go about doing your errands? What conversations might start and friendships develop or someone hurting gets an encouraging verse to help them along their way? What if we went through our day not in a hurry but actually welcomed the interruptions? What are we missing out because schedules are so tight that these other things simply don't click? I'd love to hear from you what you loosened up on and what happened as a result. Blessings, Pastor Pete