4:38 AM…
The fire alarm in the bedroom starts chirping…
You know the sound…
it’s the noise the alarm makes when the backup battery is dying…
“It will stop,” I think…
And go back to sleep…
For about two minutes.
The alarm is chirping again…
More asleep than awake…
I turn over one more time …
Try to sleep a little past 4:45…
When….
You guessed it.
Nothing left to do now but change the battery.
Looking up at the alarm…
I realize it’s high enough on the sloped ceiling that I’ll need a ladder.
Really?
A ladder?
At 4:45 AM?
On with the shoes…
Down the stairs…
Into the garage…
Lug the ladder up the stairs…
I’m awake now.
Climb up the ladder
Open the battery door…
Notice how the battery is inserted…
Insert the battery and close the door…
The Door won’t shut.
Impossible.
Maybe if I just push a little harder.
A piece of the smoke alarm falls to the floor.
Couldn’t I just go back to bed…
Maybe power-up the smoke alarm later?
As I consider this rather tempting option…
The alarm beeps again.
Sighing…
I pry open the now broken the power door…
jiggle the battery…
And push until the door closes again.
I wait for one minute…
Two minutes.
Three minutes…
Silence. Finally. At 4:59 AM.
I could go back to bed…
But sleep? Not a chance.
And so I sit at the computer…
Telling you of my attempts to power up the smoke alarm…
A task I suspect would have been much simpler if only I had the directions.
My sleep deprived, caffeinated brain thinks perhaps this incident is a metaphor….
A metaphor for all the times in my life when I’ve heard an alarm going off in that same brain…
An alarm saying, “Don’t do that!”
But didn’t know where to find the power to stop…
But how do we find that Power?
Do we find Gods Power through some special effort?
Do we find Gods power through our own strength?
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
Through wealth?
Whoever trusts in his riches will fall… Proverbs 11:28
Or by simply turning to Him…
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you James 4:8
Turning to Him and waiting for Him…
Waiting at the foot of the cross…
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
