By Greg Sikes

I think it’s part of the human experience to just go through the motions. It’s really easy to do . . . sort of like the default position on the meter by which we measure life.

You get up at the same time every day. You go to bed at the same time every night. You play the same games with your same children. You cook the same food or eat at the same restaurants. You watch the same TV shows, you check the same favorite sites on the web.

You just put it on cruise control and slowly motor through life. It’s simple, it’s easy, and — to be totally honest — it’s a bit of a waste of time.

But then the unexpected happens, often something we would have preferred to live without.

A loved one dies unexpectedly. The doctor has bad news about our latest checkup. The bottom falls out of our business.

Something unexpected happens and suddenly the big squeeze occurs.

What do I mean by the big squeeze? Just that life has those moments when suddenly we’re the grape being squeezed in the wine press . . . it’s in those moments that we learn just what it is that we’re holding inside.

I’ve seen people whom I felt were fragile and immature suddenly — when squeezed — demonstrate an entirely new level of faith and trust in God.

And watched others that had my undying respect suddenly turn into vindictive, mean-spirited individuals when life — and, at least by deductive reasoning, God — dealt them a curveball.

Like I said, such moments cause the big squeeze in our lives, and we’ll quickly learn what comes out.

Simple put, if we are walking through life depending on the living water, when we’re squeezed, I believe the water turns to wine and those around have their lives enriched by our reactions, our faith, even our battle with our circumstances.

But if we’re just going through the motions, relying on the mundane and the commonplace to keep us moving forward, the big squeeze will reveal us for what we really are — dry, dusty vessels lacking the essential elements to quench either our thirst or the thirst of the hurting souls around us.

And if you wait until the squeeze occurs, you don’t stand a chance. If you’re to produce anything in the winepress of life, you had better begin to drink from the living water now . . . every day, through Bible study, and prayer, and routine worship of our awesome God.

If not, when the squeeze comes, your dry bones will crack and nothing of value will come out. Perhaps you’ll admit a stench, or an odor, or a foul string of off-color language . . . but there will be no wine.

Are you ready for the squeeze?

Editors Note: Greg blogs at http://gsykeslight.blogspot.com