Explosion!
I am sure we have all had a blowout at some time in our lives. I personally have never had a blow out while driving. But I do remember driving one time and all of the sudden I heard an explosion. I had no idea what it was but my first response was to break and go over to the side of the road. It turned out that it was a semi truck in front of me that had the blowout. If I had not responded the way that I had I could have been hit by a tire.
The tire that you see in the picture above was actually my son’s tire. He is traveling all over the United States doing deliveries. My son does what is 
referred to as Hotshot hauling or Hotshot trucking. He does not drive a semi truck but hauls a trailer with a pickup. It seems with all the heat and putting a lot of hours on the road has an effect on tires. He has had more than one blowout. It amazes me how shredded the tire was.
Christians
It reminded me of life as a Christian. As we surrender our lives to Jesus each day and allow Him to have full control, life can get “hot”. The devil does not like it when we allow Jesus to have full control of our lives. So he turns up the heat. The trials come. And how we deal with the “heat” will determine whether we have a “blowout”.
When you are driving in the heat it is really important to keep the pressure of your tires where it needs to be. You need to be sure to check them often because the heat causes them to expand and therefore can cause a blowout due to too much pressure.
In the same way in our Christian walk, we have to make sure that we are maintaining our connection with Christ through the study of His Word and prayer. If we don’t have enough “air pressure” (God’s Spirit) filling our lives we will not handle the “heat”. Although we can’t get too much of God’s Word or prayer like a tire can have too much air, it is true that we can spend so much time that we do not take care of the responsibilities God has given us to do. We can use spending time with God as an excuse for laziness, which is just as detrimental.
We need to have balance in our lives. Just like with a tire on your car, too much or too little air can cause a blowout, so spending too much time or too little time with God can cause us to spiritually have a blowout. If we are just filling our lives with God and not sharing it we are going to have a “blowout”, just like too much air in a tire.
Trust
What it really boils down to is trust. When my son is traveling he could be worrying all the time if he is going to have a blowout or he can trust that he has done what he can to keep it from happening and go on without worry. Does not worrying about it mean he will never have a blowout? No, but it does make life a lot more pleasant. And in the event, he does have a blowout he just needs to fix it and get on with life.
It is the same in our Christian walk. We know the devil is going to pour on the heat. But if we are doing everything to keep our lives connected to Jesus we don’t need to worry or fret. We just need to stay surrendered to Him. We don’t need to worry about whether we are going to have a “blowout”. And in the event we do, instead of wallowing in the “mud” get up and confess. Do whatever it takes to make things right. Fix the “tire” and keep going. A lot of times we can start saying, “I blew it again”, “I am never going to get this”, “I’ll never make it”, etc. But that is just where the devil wants us. He is the one whispering those things into our minds. Let’s just fix the “blowout” by getting back in connection with Jesus and keep going.
Leak
When we are in the heat of a trial we feel more of a need for Christ. But the real danger is when we have a slow “leak”. On our cars when a blowout happens it is like a major trial but there are times that we just have a slow leak and we don’t even notice until we hear or feel something not quite right. It is the same with the Christian walk. We can be slowly getting away from that time with God. We spend less and less time each day, slowly allowing the “air” (power) out of our lives. And before we know it we have a “flat tire” (discouragement, depression, anger feelings, etc.)
Keep Connected
The key to success is keeping connected with Jesus. He is the One with the “air” (power) to keep us filled so that we can come through each trial with the victory, no blowouts. It is when we start to focus on the “heat” of the trial that the friction gets to us and we end up with a “blowout”.
When we have little trials each day they can also draw us away from spending time with God because we are so busy putting out the “fires” that we don’t take the time we need. I have found that as I spend time with God, no matter how much I need to accomplish in the day that I always have plenty of time with even time left over. But when I don’t spend that time the day is chaos and I don’t get as much accomplished. That is the miracle of God. We work on addition and He works on multiplication.
Dear Father,
Help us to not forget the need to spend time with You, in study and prayer. I want to recommit my time to You. Thank You for Your patience and love.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Commit to spending time with Jesus today in prayer and study of His Word.
Love you all.
Have you ever experienced a blowout like this one? If so, how did it turn out and what spiritual lesson could you share? Share below.