Dear Friends in Christ,

     I was rereading the newsletter article I wrote last September in which I shared with you that the boat building project my grandson Cody and I finished had culminated in a successful float test over at Jack and Rosie Sailstad's place.

     Well, here we are a year later, and the boat still floats! No leaks, and we've had the boat on the lake in all kinds of weather and she's still sea worthy. (Don't get alarmed, we're not heading to the ocean with this 9'7" boat--it's just a descriptive phrase!). At the time of last September's newsletter, we were under "oar power," but now we have a 40-year-old 61 hp kicker we use, and it's perfect for us. The first time or two on the lake it ran great. Then one weekend I ran up to Asheville, picked up Cody, and brought him back here so we could head out real early Saturday morning to fish before the ocean-going vessels of Lake Norman appeared along with an armada of jet skis. We headed out across the lake and fished for a while. When we got ready to come back in, the motor wouldn't start. So Cody decided he would try his hand at rowing back across the lake. We were rowing along, out in the middle of the lake, when Cody said there was a large boat coming up behind us. Sure enough, a gracious fellow asked if we needed help. I responded that Cody had decided he wanted to row across the lake and we were fine. As he prepared to pull away he said, "It's great to see a young person learning 'old school ways'!" and wished us well.

     Later, when I took apart the carburetor to find out what was going on, I discovered that the small needle that regulated gas flow was stuck. So I replaced it and all is well and the motor runs great. So, being a preacher, it seemed to me there had to be a spiritual message in all this somewhere (occupational hazard). So here it is: The power of God's Holy Spirit is available to every believer. But often some little thing interferes with that power

flowing into our lives in ways that benefit us. I may be a professional believer, but if I'm holding a grudge against someone else, or engaged in repetitive sin, my needle's stuck, and the power of the Holy Spirit can't flow through me in the ways I need to experience it. Though a believer, if I spend no time in daily prayer and reflection, again, my needle's stuck and the flow of the power of God's Holy Spirit that grants us encouragement, insight, understanding, and direction in life is interrupted.

     So take a few minutes to reflect on this. Ask yourself, "Am I allowing the Holy Spirit free flowing access to my heart and life, or is there something 'sticking' in my life that I need to leave behind so once again I can experience the abundance of life that Jesus wants me to know?" We all need something, or someone to give us the power we need to move through life, and the Biblical promise is that God's Holy Spirit is precisely that powerful presence within us. Open your heart daily to His presence, and you'll find his grace and strength are sufficient for all your needs. And the next time you see me rowing across the lake, you'll know -- "Uh-oh, the needle's stuck again!"

Yours in the Service of Christ and the Church

Bob

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