Pressure

Yesterday started with a hunt for pressure, air pressure. Since Monday is the ministry's "official" day off (the sign that hangs on the gate says "Please we do not work on Monday") we had decided to go to Kampala just to run some errands and enjoy the day together. As we were loading into the car Tom informed me that the left rear tire was low. No problem! We'll get pressure on the way. I should have known better.

You see the power company Umeme, which means power in Kiswahili, can't make enough of their product to meet the demand. So every third night we are without umeme, I mean power, from 7:00pm to 7:00am or until whenever Umeme, the power company, restores umeme the product. Sunday night was Jinja's night! We went to no less than 12 fuel stations but none had pressure because they had no power. I offered to go back to the house and use our air compressor but that idea was vetoed by the others as an unneeded delay. So we drove to Kampala on the low tire. The trip was uneventful with the exception of one large puddle (it was raining and had rained all night) that nearly dragged us off the road but Bev, the designated driver for the day, handled it beautifully. Eventually we found a station with pressure in Kampala and filled our tire. All the people were happy as well as the tire.

But the search for pressure got me thinking about the pressure in our lives. We face all types of pressure. This week I spoke to someone who had just been informed of their status. That means they are HIV positive. And so is their spouse. The pressure on them is so great to accuse and blame each other. "You did this to me!" "How could you?" The pressure to keep this news secret is great. Don't let anyone know, pretend it is not there, don't let the kids know. Deny, deny, deny. The external pressure that the world exerts on people can crush them if we don't have the internal pressure that comes from Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

The world says we, like the tire, need to run at full pressure and cannot be useful if we are anything less than full. The tire showed me that this idea isn't true. We serve God with all our lives. Some days we have it all, full pressure, but other times we have only a third of what we should have. We can still continue though.

Illness, whether HIV or Parkinson's or a common cold, might make us feel unable to be useful but we can still serve our Lord, Jesus. To our minds it is better to serve when we are full of health and vigor but we forget that God's strength is displayed in our weakness. The underinflated tire is in danger of failing and needs to have more air put into it. When it is filled properly it can conquer the road with its potholes and puddles and carry the load with ease. Even when underinflated it can still perform well. It just needs to keep the air it has and wait to be fully inflated when the power returns.

We too must keep serving even when we feel deflated by the world and wait until God the Almighty Father, the real Umeme, fills us to the proper pressure. Just as the tire has a warning, "Do not overinflate" we too must not over inflate ourselves and become swelled up with pride. Let God decide how much we need in order to follow and serve Him. Carrying the load He has called you and I to bear. It is the cross that we pick up daily.