Are You An Empty Can?

Concerned Apartment tenants called the landlord after smelling smoke coming from the apartment building. My friend, the owner of the building; went door to door smelling outside every unit. When she got to David’s apartment, a 26 year old, single man who works for a collections agency, she smelled smoke.

Concerned that her complex was on fire, she quickly unlocked the door to his apartment. She could barely step foot inside blocked by a mountain range of empty beers cans. Everywhere she looked empty cans, empty cases of beer and trash covered the floor, the stove top, the counter top, just everywhere. Like a movie set, it looked as though someone had been filming the next beer movie, a  cross between National Lampoons Animal house, Leaving Las Vegas and Beer fest.

Only 12 inches of the sofa, just enough for someone to sit was free of debris.  Water saturated the charred and burned sofa soaking beyond the carpet dripping into the basement near the furnace. Tossed Cushions thrown all over the living room were further evidence of David’s desperate attempt to stop the flames from his cigarette. From the looks of the room seems as though he passed out with a cigarette in hand.

Standing in the war zone, she angrily called David at work, raging about his apartment, the beer cans and the fire that could have taken the lives of her tenants. After listening to a lame excuse about the fire and water, she ordered him to clean up the place, and set a meeting for him to meet with her on Saturday.

Saturday arrived, with eviction notice in hand; she met him at his apartment. He had cleaned up some, filling up more than 30 trash bags full of empty beer cans. She had no other choice but to evict him. He had no respect for her property, his own home, himself or the lives of the other tenants.

 

As she handed him the eviction notice, he lowered his head and shoulders in complete shame.  He slowly lifted his head and softly said, “This is my home. I have nowhere else to go. Please, don’t kick me out.”

How sad that he considered this beer can mess a home, that he had nowhere else to go. Who would have thought that this soft spoken young man who went to work every day in a tie and spoke with a highly intellectual vocabulary was a functioning alcoholic?

David’s beer cans were not from some wild party with lots of friends. He spent hours alone with his video games and beer. This sad young man’s self-loathing behavior is leading him down a path of self-destruction.

She looked at David and said, “David, do you need help for your problem?”

He looked around the room, oblivious to the real problem she was speaking of and said, “No, I’m pretty sure I can finish cleaning up everything myself.”

She put her hand on his shoulder and said, “No David, do you need help for your drinking problem?”

He said, “I don’t have a drinking problem. I just get depressed sometimes. It comes and goes in cycles.”

Echoing in her mind, my friend replayed, “I have nowhere to go. This is my home.”  Looking at  David, young enough to be her son,she decided to give him a second chance. She lectured him on her requirements and agreed to put him on a 90 day probation period. He promised to clean up, not to smoke in the building and offered to let her peek in on his apartment daily.

Many of us, like David, are searching in all the wrong places for something to fill our emptiness. 

Some people drown their sorrows with beer.  Others fill themselves with food, numbing sadness and stress with sweets and treats.   Some of us are  bored always looking for the next thrill or adrenaline rush, compulsively trying out new sports, hobbies  seem to always searching for something.

Some of us are never satisfied with anything or anybody, we’re looking for quick fix to problems, that typically means flushing things in our lives: marriages, friendships and careers. We’re just unwilling to invest the time and energy to make it work. 

 Some of us seek  approval, compliments and attention to feel good about ourselves.  In too many cases, many married people stand on a slippery slope as they fill their emptiness with flattery from people outside their marriages.

Many of us our masters of disguise, masking our pains with nervous laughs and false smiles.   On the surface we look normal, but we’re laughing to keep from crying.  

You can search your entire life for something to fill the void, but unless you seek the “living water” of Christ to fill your spirit, no matter what  you try, you’ll be as empty as the 1,000 beer cans in David’s apartment, living without real purpose.

The Lord can transform us, but we must first:

•  Admit that we need the Lord’s help.
•  Acknowledge through prayer our shortcomings and problems.
• Believe and know that Christ can & will transform you if you let him.

 When we whole-heartily handover our lives to God , through his grace and love for us, he can transform even the hardest of transformations. Perhaps, you’re thinking you can’t change. Or maybe, you’re thinking  someone in your life will never change.  But know this…No project or problem is too big for God. Trust in God, Seek God’s help and watch in amazement as the miracles unfold.  

 

Definition of Empty:

Holding or containing nothing. ( If you have Christ: You  hold the key to eternal happiness)

Mathematics Having no elements or members; null: an empty set. ( You are a member of God’s family)

Having no occupants or inhabitants; vacant: an empty chair; empty desert. (He has a special place in his heart for you!  )

Lacking force or power: an empty threat. ( God has power over everything )

Lacking purpose or substance; meaningless: an empty life.( God gives our lives purpose)

Not put to use; idle: empty hours. (He uses us to help others. Every hour of our life counts!)

 Needing nourishment; hungry:  ( Jesus is the living water, all the nourishment we need. ) 

Devoid; destitute: empty of pity ( There is hope in Christ. Nothing is ever a lost cause when God is in  it.)

 

 Scripture of the Day: Romans 5: 1-5

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

 

 Thoughts for the day:

1. Do you feel hopeless in an area of your life?

2. Do you have a bad habit that might be masking a real problem?

3. Do you believe in your heart that Jesus can fix anything? Call on Him for help!

4. Are you quick to judge someone? ( Only God can see into the heart of others to see the real truth)