In 2006 Cindy Lynn and I went to Hawaii together to celebrate her graduation from high school. When our trip was over Russ brought all of the kids to pick us up from the airport. As soon as we left the airport, the van started sputtering violently. We pulled over to the side of the road and called friend Ken to come and rescue us. Ken asked if we thought that the van was out of gas, but Russ assured him that the gauge showed that there was still plenty of gas left. When Ken arrived he was carrying a gas can; he said that he figured that it wouldn't hurt to make sure we weren't just out of gas. And of course we were. As soon as the gas was in the tank the van started right up, and we drove to the nearest gas station and filled up the tank and drove off with no problems. (Thank you Ken!)
Once it was obvious that the fuel gauge wasn't working, we started keeping track of our mileage on one of the trip odometers so that we would know when we needed to get gas. Unfortunately we're not exactly sure what the size of our gas tank is (and have never bothered to check) so we try to err on the side of caution and always fill up by the 300 mile mark. We've driven the van now without a working fuel gauge for 3 years and never run out of gas--but we do pay a lot of attention to that odometer reading.
When we were driving across the country last week we paid even closer attention. There are parts of the country where it could be 50 miles or more between gas stations. Last year we found ourselves in the middle of Nebraska pretty late at night on an almost empty tank, not sure that we were going to be able to find a place to fill up. This year Jason & I were very careful to keep an eye on the odometer.
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Yesterday I went to Relief Society with my friend Janet. The teacher gave a beautiful lesson on the parable of the 10 virgins. She talked about the need to constantly replenish the oil in our personal "lamps," reminding us that none of wanted to be caught unprepared.
Here is the problem. Unlike my van, I cannot take my spiritual lamp to the next gas station and fill up my tank. The teacher emphasized the fact that we can only fill up our spiritual lamps one drop at a time, and that this is why it's so important to be consistent in our efforts.
And like my van, I can never know exactly how much oil is left in my lamp. I have no way of knowing where the tipping point is--the point at which I no longer have enough oil to sustain me through the present crisis.
It would probably be prudent to be as careful with my lamp as I am with my gas tank...
Once it was obvious that the fuel gauge wasn't working, we started keeping track of our mileage on one of the trip odometers so that we would know when we needed to get gas. Unfortunately we're not exactly sure what the size of our gas tank is (and have never bothered to check) so we try to err on the side of caution and always fill up by the 300 mile mark. We've driven the van now without a working fuel gauge for 3 years and never run out of gas--but we do pay a lot of attention to that odometer reading.
When we were driving across the country last week we paid even closer attention. There are parts of the country where it could be 50 miles or more between gas stations. Last year we found ourselves in the middle of Nebraska pretty late at night on an almost empty tank, not sure that we were going to be able to find a place to fill up. This year Jason & I were very careful to keep an eye on the odometer.
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Yesterday I went to Relief Society with my friend Janet. The teacher gave a beautiful lesson on the parable of the 10 virgins. She talked about the need to constantly replenish the oil in our personal "lamps," reminding us that none of wanted to be caught unprepared.Here is the problem. Unlike my van, I cannot take my spiritual lamp to the next gas station and fill up my tank. The teacher emphasized the fact that we can only fill up our spiritual lamps one drop at a time, and that this is why it's so important to be consistent in our efforts.
And like my van, I can never know exactly how much oil is left in my lamp. I have no way of knowing where the tipping point is--the point at which I no longer have enough oil to sustain me through the present crisis.
It would probably be prudent to be as careful with my lamp as I am with my gas tank...
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I love the picture of the lamp you used. I've never seen one quite like it. What a great analogy.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't your owner's manual tell you how large your fuel tank is?
Megan--it was just one of the pictures that came up on google, and I thought it was interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy owners manual might tell me--but I would have to look! Last night I filled up at 370 after forgetting a couple of time to do it. So now I know that my tank holds at least 15.7 gallons!