The Nightmare Cruise

When I lived in Afghanistan, I was not able to have a hot bath or shower for a year and a half! Although we had cold-water plumbing, the majority of Afghans did not. (And yes, I did bathe every day—we called it a ‘bucket’ bath!) Perhaps my abiding appreciation for hot & cold running water is compelling me to comment on today’s news story of the crippled Carnival Cruise ship. Due to a fire in the engines, the passengers endured two days without electricity, backed-up toilets, and worst of all, according to many of them, cold showers (and they had to eat canned food!). It will evermore be known as the ‘nightmare’ cruise.

As I read the article, I was reminded of the 3 billion people on our planet who live without access to proper sanitation, of the 2 billion people who have no electricity, of the 1.1 billion who do not have access to clean drinking water, and the 22,000 children who die each day of starvation and preventable diseases.

Something is really wrong when we think what happened on the Carnival Cruise ship is a nightmare. It was nothing more than an inconvenience (nobody was injured; no one died). As our American culture of consumerism and narcissism increases, can I ask you to join me today to remember and recommit ourselves to the attitude of Jesus (who lived his entire life without hot and cold running water, power or indoor plumbing) as expressed by the words of Paul: If we have food & clothing, let us be content (1 Tim. 6:8).

Are We Having an Energy Crisis?

Having travelled (and lived) in parts of the world that have no electricity, I find it somewhat strange when I read about the U.S. “energy crisis.” In the last decade we have become increasingly educated and warned of the limits of these ‘natural’ resources. Even so, we find it unimaginable we will ever be without them. But according to recent U. N. statistics, there are as many as 2 billion people on the planet who suffer from “energy poverty”—the lack of electricity, natural gas, or any modern fuels used for cooking or for heating homes.

As I read the above statistics, I couldn’t help thinking how many Christians live, spiritually, like impoverished peoples of developing countries. They live as though they were energy deprived, that is, unable to access God’s indwelling, resident power to live victoriously. But it should not be so.

God has given us all the ‘energy’ we need to live effective Christian lives—He energizes us with His own life “by God’s mighty power at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). The Greek word for “work” is the word “energeo,” which of course is where we get out English word energy! The writer of Hebrews uses this word when he says the Word of God is alive and active [full of energy] (4:12).

So why should any Christian ever have an energy crisis? There can be only one reason: he is still operating in his own. Whenever you feel like you have run out of the energy it takes to be obedient and please God, it is probably because you are accessing your own; God promises you will never run out of His. “For God is working [energizing] in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him” (Phil. 2:13).