To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

I fall asleep early, then I am appreciative to wake up early for God and me to have this quiet time together. EARLY.  Maybe I am not quiet enough, ever, He is still working on me being still. It’s like God is doing a diagnostic test of my system each morning after resetting me with repairative sleep. I wouldn’t trade these cool dark mornings with God for anything. That Light is already here in my heart to focus on, morning Light comes later.  The window is open, has been all late summer, I love these summer bugs being free to make the loudest natural noises, and traffic is not yet buzzing its unnatural noise. The birds too start chirping, sometimes you get a early primordial screech of a fox or a cat. You can also hear your own brain too loud. Trivial stuff or serious stuff, God says ‘Shhhh… Listen to Me’. 

Diagnostic tests and teachings, we are His children. He is ready to CHECK OUR ENGINE LIGHTS FOR PRAISE! 

Yes, so many moments we are reminded to praise over pout. His Light installed and Illuminated in each of us, He wants us to Shine through to others. To say how can I complain when God is in control. To settle and strip the crud of humanness and earthly darkness away and get down to our core to FIND the LIGHT was always there, then polish what’s blocking His Spirit bulb, declutter our brains. God has woken us for another day of His Shining Purposes. 

I have MUCH to be thankful for. I was sitting yesterday with my red car (for my son to drive, not my newer blue one) in the shop getting an inspection done. Had my laptop, worked on work. Had my ear buds in to drown out the dreary TV drama. I did put on music earbuds for focus on work, but then I also remembered that there were live feeds of the 9-11 coverage for the family members were reading the names of the lost at the waterfalls memorials at Ground Zero, NYC. This prime memory of 9-11 makes me count my own blessings – I checked my anger, sorrow, distractions and instead counted my own blessings of my loved ones alive or having had a natural death. I stopped and checked that my engine of PRAISE was still running.

My praise should always be: ‘Yes, Lord, I have this problem but You gave me an opportunity to depend upon You!”

(Kids, Life, Work, Health, you can insert any issue where we get an opportunity to lean on God for guidance)

That many months check engine light on the red Subaru, oh yeah… this 181,200 mile car is NOT vintage as a 2014, still in prime Subaru time, it HAS been a great car, my third Forester. It’s still not paid off, almost, 2 more months. I consider it a good investment into my son’s education now, I’ve invested 19 years into him, keep investing as the return on your investment is still worth it. God has invested all of eternity into each of us, His children, right? Do you throw anything away if it’s just starting to give you trouble? Nope. Do you do cost benefits analysis of money and repairs? Of course. Did God do that with us? You bet but He decided FIRST that we were worth it! To repair our original sin from a fall into darkness and recover us back to Himself to His Eternal Life, God our Father gave it His All, our All in All, in Jesus’s sacrifice. Now let’s check our LIGHT of PRAISE now! He did that for us before we were even born. He planned to rescue us before the earth was formed. 

Yeah…

OK, back to the red car, the teaching tool of an under the hood problem to have, I mean a good problem to have, right? Haha. We DO have the time for discussion (inspection due in 3 months). We DO have potential resources including loans for other cars. And we DO have a repairable decent car, yes an 80,000 mile replacement engine in the 181,000 red car makes it half new in my book. The code is catalytic converter, 0420, I read it and clear it myself, nice little box tool, 35 dollars for clearing after checking. I know that catalytic converter probably damaged from misfires in the old engine, as my trusted engine replacement specialist states. A regular issue, expensive fix of precious metals in the unit to recapture gas fumes. Otherwise a decently good car, really good in my opinion, drives GREAT, and good enough to drive as a 50+ yr old let alone an 18+ yr old’s first car… I reset the light myself a few times and took the car for my highway trip to ‘run it through the paces’ with using those additive cleaners.  Hmmmm, light stayed off commonly miles – but this time now 30, then 40, 50, ah 80, ah 100 miles!!!! Click click click made that appointment for inspection, give it a go 2 months early. So worth the gamble, well not a gamble if the Lord is casting lots on what you’ve put all your prep already into. (Remember these are just earthly tools and God’s reminding us to not be so attached to them. Still, would be nice, Lord, to keep this car a bit more!)

Teaching me to be patient, God had always forced set aside some time to make me think, time this particular day as well for it being 9-11, a reminder that the world is so imperfect. I found this day was a good time to drown out my whining of my little problems compared to these 9-11 peoples BIG problems. It was 2 hours I waited at the car dealer, plenty of time we make God wait trying to block out worldly noises with just earbuds, when we should just listen to Him, Lord God, and sing His Praises over our worries.

Maybe that’s why God invented summer bugs, to block out other noises and remind us it’s still summer. Maybe that’s why God instilled eternity into our hearts, so we would ponder BIGGER things forever. Maybe that’s why thorns in the side remind us: HIS GRACE is SUFFICIENT. 

The car? PASSED INSPECTION!!!!!!!! No problem but one blown bulb, one, $20 not $2000 fix, whew, that check engine light not on, Thank God, and a window of opportunity to praise. That check engine light? CAME RIGHT BACK ON, HAHA, less than 5 miles later, YEAH! 120 miles off, inspection passed, 5 miles more, ding ding ding, God’s sense of humor. No, God is NO magician for fun, God wants our praise either way. This IS an earthly good problem to have. It could have gone either way but I should ONLY be in PRAISE. 

But such funny timing huh? Good story I thought as I was admiring the 2024 stickers for 14 future months of not necessarily smooth sailing but at least passing inspection legally! I laughed in PRAISE, stopped for the photo. You did that Lord, yet another jam you got me out of, You gave me back what I WAS praying for: less debt, delayed car decisions, all while giving me teachable moment for my sin of impatience until I praised You first. A teaching tool of not throwing in the towel on a good car, nor good money over bad (not yet) into repair, a sturdy car still sturdy for my precious child over sporty silliness for anyone. (Yes, time for tires and new brakes, but oh yeah my son is worth that). A blessed thorny teaching tool of money talk, savings that may be earned towards a newer car a year from now. You could dlsay it’s just a car, but a second Subaru leash on life I will take for today. Just DRIVE, and let God LIGHT His engine of PRAISE in you.

May we all keep PASSING HIS Diagnostic TESTS, singing His PRAISE each morning. May we appreciate mercy each day, shining His Light in this darkness, be known by our thankfulness in good times and bad. 

May Your Light Shine in Our Darkness, Lord.

Amen

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David singing Psalm 30

I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.

O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.

I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.