Running on Empty: Finding Purpose Beyond Exhaustion

Dr. David Fraze: So, at least once every fall semester, I have a really strange weekend, and last week was a strange week.
We had so many things going on, so I was already tired.
And if you were in Chapel Friday, I was in my street clothes and a donut in hand when Deloney called and said,
hey, you're going to interview me.
So I went from an interview, I went to a meeting, I got in a car, and I drove to Odessa.
I usually ride my team bus where I coach, but we're in Odessa. Game time is 7:30, which means
you're not off the field till 10:30 or 11. I got to get from Odessa, Texas to Brownwood, Texas,
sleep a few hours and speak at a men's conference. Now that happens at least once
every fall semester. Now with a week like that, and you know I love my coffee,
you can't drink enough coffee that it has no effect. I was in that moment.
and there were stretches of driving that I don't even remember. Have you ever been that tired?
I'm like driving and I was driving by Braille. So I would hit the rumble strips. I'm like, oh man.
And then I hit those little dots in the middle. I'm like, oh man. And one time I hit the rumble
strips on the other side. And then I'm like, I got to stop for a second. So I pulled over,
I'm in the middle of nowhere. And I'm telling you guys, I didn't see any hogs,
But I try to stay alert.
There were so many deer.
Because there was a storm that just passed by.
And everything around the road was coming to life.
There was rabbits.
I saw a fox.
I ran over a skunk.
I just, here it comes.
And I feel a thud.
And then when I got to Brownwood, I was taking my clothes out of the back of the car.
And I turned.
And I have these unidentified feathers on the back of my tailgate.
I have no idea.
Did I drive into somebody's yard and kill their chickens?
No clue.
But I thought about that this morning.
Isn't that life?
It would have been much better if I had someone in the seat next to me.
Because when you're by yourself, you can get hypnotized by the road and all the warnings.
You try, but it just keeps coming at you.
But when you have to do a long trip with a friend or a group of friends and they stay awake because they're cool,
the windows are down, you're playing 80s music, and you're peeing outside.
I mean, it's so much fun.
But I was alone.
And I was brought to this verse.
Two are better than one.
Because they have a good return for their labor.
If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
Listen to this.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
And a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Now, don't put Jesus in the middle of those verses because he's not.
This is a Near Eastern book.
Solomon's talking about a realism of life.
And yes, Jesus in our life is wonderful.
We look at that verse and we think, yes, that is a great wedding verse.
Don't ruin it for me, Dr. Fraze.
Yes, you're making a commitment to Jesus and to everyone in the audience when you get married.
But what this verse says is very simple.
You can go through life alone and hit everything on the road and try to read by Braille, or
you can have other people in your life.
I think the other is better.
Can I use y'all to come on up here?
Y'all two right there.
Jump on the stage.
Give him a hand.
Life is very, very, very, very difficult.
For all you old people, this is the new Stretch Armstrong.
It's very depressing.
It's blue, and it's not stretch arm strong.
All right.
Hold that arm.
Hold this arm.
Just keep, walk that way.
Walk this way.
That wasn't, wasn't supposed to happen.
It does prove my point.
Life's a very hard thing, guys.
It'll rip your arms off.
Is that cocaine?
What are we?
You're doing a great job.
Let's move to the second point.
Okay, up here.
You're doing great.
Man, that's...
Old school rules.
Stretch Armstrong would not have done that.
Right, guys?
I think that's how they're smuggling drugs
into America or something.
Gotta call somebody.
This is one of my favorite things.
You know about this.
This is called an energy stick.
See, God made you that you have an energy source in your brain and in your heart to electrical systems.
I want you to see what happens.
This has, again, no battery.
All I'm doing is connecting the energy inside of myself.
Now, I could do that by myself.
It's not near as exciting.
But here's what happens.
Watch this.
Hold my hand.
Hold his hand.
Now, you touch this.
It's transferable.
So I can do this.
Hold it.
I can decide.
Phrase, I want to live by myself.
I'm at LSU, and I know you say we walk with you,
but I'm going to do my own thing.
I'm going to get my degree and leave.
You'll get a great education.
Fine.
But what about getting with other people?
Because here's what happens.
That's when the magic happens.
Thank you.
You can sit down, and I'll clean that later.
here's the point so disturbing um
um and dangerous people behind the curtain okay um listen to this
the last place that i went saturday before driving home was with my friend tom washburn
tom washburn and i have been working in ministry a long time the first pine springs camp i ever
went to was his. First one I directed, he had to be there with me because John King didn't trust me,
I found out yesterday. Thanks, John. So we've been through a lot of ministry. 90% of his bone mass is
covered in cancer and 10% is all he has left. He can sit there and his ribs will break.
And he's going to die soon. And so I went over to his house and he was having a good day.
and we cried and I said, well done. And we hugged and I will probably not see him on this side of
heaven again. But you know what we talked about? Aren't you glad we didn't live life alone?
Aren't you glad that we have people? So if you're on Shep day here, tell you what,
we have an incredible community. For all of you who are part of the Shep community,
this is why we say we walk with you. And I personally think on a day like today,
If you would stand with me please, I think we should celebrate just a little bit.
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Yeah!
All right.
So.
Oh wait, here it is.
Here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna sing the school song together, all right?
So, Chaps up in a moment,
and then after the school song, we'll do it one time.
Where's my chap day, people?
will follow the cheerleaders out of this place. We have coke and drinks and then
y'all will follow them and we're gonna have a little family celebration.
Because two are better than one!
Chaps up! Chaps up! Chaps up! Chaps up!
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