“Albuquerque” by Me In Motion

Albuquerque

Hey friends! Seth here, writing from one of my favorite places we’ve ever been able to tour: Albuquerque, NM. It’s been an eventful past few days. For those of you who follow our tweets and facebook updates, you will see that we’ve been having some issues with “Vanbearpig” (our dear van). It’s days like these that make me wish that somebody in our band was mechanically-minded. See, the deal is, our van has been sporadically losing power and shuddering like it’s going to blow up, not to mention a slipping transmission, but then the problem just works itself out on its own. And the check engine light has been on for the past couple weeks, which is quite a usual occurrence for us. But this one seems to call for more than just our usual fix of black electrical tape to cover it up. :p

Long story short, we dropped her off at the garage yesterday morning, picked it up this morning before load-in, only to find the same problem happened after a few repairs and $240. So we had to take it back and are just now getting ready to pick it up after the show. A hefty bill later, and all new spark plugs, wires, and some other random stuff, we’re hoping that the root of our problem is fixed for good. I guess we’ll find out when we’re working our way up a steep hill with a big trailer behind us. Haha..

Problems like this one in life remind me of an even bigger problem, the problems that can get in the way of our relationship with God, whether it be pain, loss, addiction, or any kind of sin. We have a choice when it comes to these things. We can go to the root of the problem and deal with it, or we can just put a “band-ad” over it just like we’ve done for our van so many times, only to find it breaking down a few miles down the road. So if we really want to go deeper and hit home with our relationship with God, you might be wondering, how in the world do we deal with these kinds of things??

Maybe today, you’re asking the questions of “Why is this happening to me?” or “How do I get out of this sin I’m trapped in?” And you’re tired of just covering your problems up with a band-aid, whatever that might be. Some cover-ups that come to mind are keeping preoccupied with popularity, looking good, making money, being the best athlete ever, having the sweetest car, or whatever it might be. I just want to tell you right now, as I think about the situation with our van, and how we dealt with the root of the problem, that dealing with it sometimes isn’t always the easiest way. Sometimes it hurts. And sometimes it can cost you every bit of pride that you have. We need each other to get through it. Let’s read a verse together that talks about this:

Whether you’re finding yourself stuck in a seemingly-hopeless situation, sin, pain, questions with no answers, or whatever it might be, I encourage you to turn to someone today for help. Just like the Word says, we can’t do it on our own, we were never created to. So find refuge in someone that can talk with you about what you’re dealing with. We’re meant to need each other!

+Seth