A what?
A hypermiler.
Yeah, just as I suspected...the spell checking mechanism on my web browser doesn't like that word. That's because the term "hypermiler" is relatively new to the English language. I suppose it's slang at this point, but with gas prices soaring over $4 per gallon and inching ever closer to the $5 mark, it's a term that is working it's way into the vocabulary of an increasingly large number of people.
So what is hypermiling? According to an August 2006 story in the Washington Post, it is a method of increasing your car's gas mileage by making skillful changes in the way you drive, allowing you to save gas and thereby have an easier time withstanding the rising oil and gas prices.
It involves techniques such as slowly accelerating from stops, coasting to red lights and stop signs by shifting into neutral well ahead of time, and actually going under the speed limit from time to time.
When I first heard of this concept, I laughed and jeered like a typical "too cool for school" person. When I looked at our budget and realized Kelly and I are consuming $400+ per month in gasoline, I took another look. So, beginning yesterday, I started hypermiling! So far (according to my on-board computer), I'm saving about three to four miles per gallon thanks to my new driving style. When this is computed using the current $4 per gallon, I am saving between eight and nine dollars per tank of gas. Not bad at all.
Believe me...these hypermiling techniques are difficult for me to adopt. I'm not a speeder, but I do like to get up to speed quickly. Not any more. Shifting into neutral a quarter mile away from a traffic light goes against my instincts, but now I find myself making a bit of a game out of how far I can coast. And going under the speed limit? Well, I try not to do this when someone is behind me on a one lane road...that's just inconsiderate since everyone is not a hypermiler. But if I'm on a multi-lane road or nobody is behind me, I may find myself putting along at 35 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone! Add to all this the fact that I'm going to try and ride my motorcycle more (once these 100+ degree days leave), and I figure to be saving significant amounts of cash!
What this all comes down to is a change of habits. If it is different results we desire, it is different actions we must take. Albert Einstein once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
The same holds true with any other area of life. Are your habits in keeping with God's word? Do your daily actions take you one step closer to heaven, or hell? Both destinations are very real places that will exist forever. You and I are inching ever closer to eternity with every passing day. In the example of hypermiling, it is causing me to go against what I've always done behind the wheel of a car....and it's very challenging at times. But I know this...if I keep on doing what I've always done, I can expect similar results!
If your style of living is taking you down the broad way that leads to destruction, the only way to veer off that deadly course is to change your way of life!
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Matthew 7:13-14, ESV
Why are there so few that enter the gate that leads to life? Jesus said it is due to the fact that it is "hard." Heaven's road requires giving up some things we may not want to give up. It demands full allegiance and submission to Christ as King. Grace that leads to salvation is given to all (Titus 2:11), but only a few accept it.
If you are on the path that leads to destruction even now, will you make a u-turn by repenting and obeying the will of the Father? If you are living outside of Christ, and if you continue to live outside of Christ, you can expect to be in a similar situation in eternity -- that is, separated from him in outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:27-28).
It is my earnest hope that you will submit to the Lord today -- for yesterday has been lost, and tomorrow may never be.
r2
