267,000 households without electricity. That’s a whole lot of fridges and freezers on the fritz. That’s a whole lot of air conditioners that aren’t conditioning!  But that’s the state of things after a swath of storms cut through northeastern Illinois Monday night.

Gratefully, our home remains spared, though we have friends who needed help.  So I took a generator to their house, fired the thing up, and plugged in a refrigerator and deep freezer.

All was well until I saw a text the next morning: “Generator runs—but no power.”   Huh?

I drove over right away, and sure enough, ol’ Bessie was cranking away noisily.  But at some point in the wee hours of the night,  she ceased being of any use. 

I tried unplugging and restarting the unit.  I tried mashing the reset buttons.  Result: Lots of noise and plenty of action—but no power. I am certainly not an electrical expert—and even less a gas engine guy.  So, for now, I have a generator that does not generate.  It only sounds like it’s doing something.

It’s a perfect metaphor—both visually and aurally—for the lives so many of us live. We're busy.  Very busy.  We satisfy ourselves declaring we're busy at work for Christ.  But we often do what we do in our flesh.  Publicly, we claim we're doing it all for Him, but privately it's really about us and how good we feel "serving Jesus."

Lord, forgive us for being engines without power. Forgive us for mistaking action and noise for godliness.  Lead us away from hurriedness to holiness.  Work your works in us and through us.   Only then can we be found useful for your kingdom.

Amen!