Editor's Note: Randy has run this story once before, but it is so appropriate for the season we're going ahead and sharing it again. During the "busy-ness" of the holidays, we are often tempted to take our spiritual life and put it on auto-pilot and coast awhile on grace. Unfortunately our Adversary doesn't take a holiday and can often use our spiritual lethargy against us. This story is a great warning about putting our spiritual life on auto-pilot, any time!

    James Rich hadn’t slept much the night before he got behind the controls of his private plane. He was planning a 30 minute flight to visit a friend in East Tennessee. As he climbed to 3,500 feet, James decided to take a quick nap. He set the plane on autopilot.

    When James suddenly awakened, he looked down to see what appeared to be a lake. But he had fallen asleep for three hours. He awoke to discover two frightening truths: he was over an ocean with no land in sight and his gas gauge registered empty! James had flown over the Gulf of Mexico. He was 85 miles from land and almost out of fuel. Though James Rich crashed into the sea, he was rescued and survived his overly long nap.

…he was over an ocean with no land in sight and his gas gauge registered empty!

    What a great reminder to us all of our need to be spiritually alert each day. It’s so tempting to put our spiritual lives on autopilot—little prayer, sporadic Bible study, casual about our relationship with God.

    Have you caught yourself asleep spiritually? Have you left your spiritual life on auto-pilot lately? Then let’s wake up! Let’s refocus our hearts on Jesus Christ and His will for our life!

    The Apostle Peter warns us, “Be selfcontrolled and alert! Your enemy the devil prowls around looking for someone to devour.” Let“s realize the enemy is always trying to get us to doze off so he can steer us off course and crash our lives. Let’s wake up!

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