It was my first and last experience with a pneumatic drill, which is a jackhammer with a star bit instead of a chisel bit. We four volunteers were to dig a septic tank for the caretakers house at a Christian camp. After three feet of digging we hit bedrock--pre-Cambrian limestone. Thats when they showed us how to use the drill.

We bored a hole for a dynamite charge to break up the rock. The thunderous blast sent 20-pound chunks of rock a hundred feet into the air, but did not break up the rock far enough down. One young man was boring a new hole while the rest of us jammed prybars into the cracks in the bedrock to lift out chunks broken up by the first blast. Thats when it happened.

There was a loud boom. The compressor hose had popped off, and like the sprayer on a loose water hose, it snaked around wildly, showering us with bits of rock. We scrambled out of there as quick as we could. A weak connection made it inevitable that the hose would blow when the pressure was great enough.

Have you ever known anybody who blows up under pressure? Do you? I do too sometimes. But look at Jesus. It wasnt as if He didnt have pressure. Judean midnights are chilly in March or April, yet His sweat was like great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). The pressure was tremendous, but He used all that pressure to propel a great purpose--the redemption of the worldbecause He tightened the connection. Father, remove this drink. Father, accomplish Your will over mine. Father, forgive their ignorance of what they are doing. My God, why have your abandoned me? Father, receive my spirit.

What do you do when the pressure of your life builds and builds? Do you tighten your connection with God? Or is that the very time you let go of Him? We will know by whether there comes from you some great achievement--or a loud boom.