Skip to main content

The Battery Monitor…

By March 15, 2018August 30th, 2022Lost in Translation

Several years ago, Janet and I acquired a sports car to use during the summer months. No… it wasn’t new – in fact, it will be 11 years old this summer but it is one of those iconic American cars that every boy wants to own someday. Yep… it’s a Corvette. To be sure, Andrew found the car about 5 years ago and drove it for a year or two before we bought it from him.

We have been careful about upkeep, kept it in the garage and maintained it to the best of our ability. Oil, tires, battery – it’s all been done and Andrew added some nice touches when he had it. So the car has navigation, a great sound system and other features that I really enjoy. It runs great and and is a fun car to drive.

That bring me to the dilemma that I had about a month ago. The car has been sitting in the garage during the winter and had not been started for about a month or so. I went out during a spell of mild weather and when I tried to start the car, the battery was dead! I have an old trickle charger so I hooked up the car and let the charger do the work over night. By morning, I could start it just fine.

But I kept wondering how to tell when the battery needed a charge and I began to research the topic. I discovered that the charger I was using was too powerful to be left on all winter so I went to the local auto store and learned about solutions that would better for the car.

I ended up with a small, reliable charger that can stay hooked up whenever the car isn’t in use – and it will charge the battery when necessary and then turn itself off when the charge is complete. For the last several weeks it has been flawless in its performance.

But I have had an insatiable curiosity to know the charge level of the battery at different times and so I ended up finding another little gizmo, made by the same company, that monitors the battery level through a smartphone app and lets you know when your car needs a little boost. I know the charger does this automatically but I want to be able to monitor the battery from my phone.

Earlier this week, while I was working near Chicago, I had some extra time and purchased an auto battery monitor at the local auto store. Earlier this evening I went out into the garage and hooked it up to the Corvette. Initially, the setup was much more difficult than advertised but finally, everything was attached. Charger, monitor and phone – all working just fine! My phone showed that the battery was only at 60% so I watched as the battery recovered to full charge.

I also thought about how convenient it would be to have a way to determine how spiritually charged we were at any point in time. Then, when we found our spiritual battery was a little low, we could plug in and get recharged to full capacity. As I thought about this, it seemed like a great idea.

But I was reminded that we already have a spiritual battery charger available to us. It’s called the Bible! And we really don’t need a monitor because we each know when we get low and need a little help. But in case you start to slip and don’t realize it, the prophet Joshua gave us great advice for keeping ourselves plugged in all the time. Our verse for the evening comes from his book where we are told, in Josh. 1:8, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

That’s the answer. In fact, it’s our encouragement for tonight. We should keep ourselves plugged in to God all the time through His words in the Bible. My prayer is that you will stay charged up for the Lord and that you will always turn to the Bible for strength and reliability while you lead a Christ centered life. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

Leave a Reply