My Poor Car

I spent much of my life living on the Canadian prairies.  Sure, a Saskatchewan winter can bring bitterly cold temperatures often dipping below -40 with wind chills of -60.  Yikes!  However, there is one benefit to the cold temperatures...lack of road salt.  You see (as I pretend to be a science teacher), the colder the temperature, the more ineffective salt becomes.  Too cold?  No ice will melt.  In Ontario, road crews spread salt like a fast food restaurant on fries.  So, if you don't carefully protect your vehicle in Ontario, the salt will literally eat away at the paint and metal of your car.  This brings me to the title of this blog, my poor car.  After another harsh Central Ontario winter and the rust spots are showing through more than ever.  This summer, I will have to do some serious work on the body of the car if I want it to last a few more years.

Lately I've been reading through the book of Ephesians.  This week it was:

Ephesians 6:10-18

New International Version (NIV)

The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

For some reason, this passage made me compare me to my car.  The purpose of this passage in Ephesians is to remind us that if we don't put our complete trust in God, we will have flaws that will slowly cause us to fade away.  God made us who we are so he knows we can be strong physically and emotionally.  But He also knows when the waves of life come crashing against us, we are no match if our trust is not completely in Him.  

So next time you see the rust on your car (or think of mine if your car is awesome), think of your own life.  Are you being strengthened everyday by putting on the armour of God, or is the rust starting to show?