What kind of car do you travel in?  Maybe your car is a sweet ride.  Or maybe it’s a junk heap.  I know I’ve certainly owned some junk in my day!

If your current car is a junk heap, it probably didn’t start out that way.  Sure, I know that no automobile is designed to last forever.  But sometimes we unintentionally speed up the demise of our cars by one of the following habits:

• Avoid routine maintenance
• Ignore the check engine light
• Exceed the limits

If you do any or all of those, it won’t be long until your sweet ride is not so sweet.  The good news is that with a little bit of care and attention, you can help your car avoid junk heap status for many years.

Turns out the same principle holds true for life.  You can have a “sweet ride” kind of life.  Or you can have a pile of junk.  And often, the difference comes down to some basic care and attention.  Let’s start with routine maintenance.  Too often I listen to people whose lives are anything BUT a sweet ride, and I discover they haven’t done any maintenance for a very long time.

Routine maintenance for life is not glamorous.  It’s just basic stuff like:

• Taking time to reflect on where you’re going.
• Having honest conversations with your family (and friends) about how you’re getting along.
• Putting God’s truth (Scripture) into your life on a regular basis.
• Practicing things like serving, giving, gratitude, worship, forgiving, etc.

If you practice routine maintenance, then you’re far less likely to end up broken down on the side of the highway of life at some point.  You’re far less likely to get blindsided by something that’s been going wrong for years.  And your life is more likely to resemble a sweet ride rather than a junk heap.

How’s your maintenance routine?  Do you need to put your life on a maintenance schedule?

In my next blog we’ll take a look at the second way to keep your life from becoming a junk heap.

-Pastor Mark

P.S. We have two people who are being nominated for positions on our Leadership Council starting in July: Mary Lethbridge and Joe Devlin.  If you have questions or comments about these nominations, please contact our office before June 1st.