So the continuing saga of the remodel on my house in Copan, OK, continues. My most recent adventure (at least that’s what the jobs seem to be turning into) was the electric at the house. We are doing a rewiring of the house. This is complete with relocating the meter from the house to the pole outside and the installation of a new and bigger breaker box.

The whole rewiring of the house came about for a couple of reasons. The first was the breaker box was too small for all that we were adding to the house. An electric wall oven, flat top cooktop stove, new electric dryer, and a bigger upgrade to the air conditioning unit. All of these were drawing more “juice” than before, and the little 100 amp box would not handle it. So we put in a new 200 amp panel.

A rewiring of most of the house was a must. Upon doing some work in the attic (that time when I fell through to the floor!) I found some dangerous connections that had been added and a lot that was not up to code. So we started with the bathrooms, the kitchen, then on to the living room, dining room, den, and finished with the garage.

Now, I am not an electrician. However, my dad was a lineman for over 40 years and could forget more about electrical stuff in a day than I could ever learn in a lifetime. Dad worked for a rural electric coop and knew most of the farmers in the area. He also did work for those farmers. He wired barns, outbuildings, and houses for them. He also rewired a couple of his own houses. I got to help him on weekends and around the house, mostly in the attic.

I also wired the house I built in Arkansas. It was my first endeavor with the help of a friend who was an electrician and the help of a church member, also an electrician. Then when we built our house in Lequire, I put electrical knowledge into practice again. And now, my final (and last, I hope, I hate attics) adventure is in Copan.

Last week came the big day to hook all the wires up to the new breaker box. All the wires properly hooked to the right place. Breakers are all set. Time to trip the main and see what happened. And just like that…I have power to the new box… and no sparks, flares or anything blowing up!

Next I go through the house checking each room. The master bedroom, all good. The other bedrooms are both good as well. Both bathrooms are operational. Den is energized along with the dining room. Then came the kitchen and living room. I had one plug and light in kitchen not working. What??? Everything else in kitchen was working. What is up? As I looked further I realized the microwave plug energizes the sink light. So I hook up the plug for microwave, and all is good.

The living room is another nightmare. As I go resetting breakers I find I have one breaker that keeps tripping as I reset it, and it trips the one above it. Now I am really confused. I think I’ve met my match. I called one of my buddies (an electrician), and he tells me it has to be a ground issue or two feeds going to the same circuit.

After two hours of tracing wires, checking breakers, crawling through the attic I figured out that I had connected a plug in the kitchen wall to a plug in the living room (which by the way was already fed from another hot wire). I had two energy sources going to the same place, energizing the same circuit!

So another 30 minutes go by, some wires are moved and put where they need to be, and I now have proper power restored. I have lights in all the house, safety is restored, and I think I need a Xanax!

This double feed to the living room made me do some thinking. Not think about electricity but spiritual warfare. See, I had two feeds going, fighting for the same circuit. You can’t do that with electricity. It will arc, spark, and sometimes cause a fire, not to mention the potential of you or someone else getting hurt.

Spiritual warfare is a feed from God and a feed from Satan, both trying to supply energy to the same circuit. It is a battle. The problem is the circuit cannot have two feeds (like the electrical circuit). If allowed to have two feeds, arcs, sparks, fire, and harm can happen.

With spiritual warfare you have to decide who to join forces with, God or Satan. With the house I had to decide which electrical line would feed the circuit. With spiritual warfare, who are you going to follow? Only you can make that decision. Sometimes it is quick and easy, and other times it will be lengthy. When lengthy, I can guarantee there will be some sparks.

Scripture says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12) A good reminder to see where your power source comes from, and that there is a constant battle you are fighting. So, who’s winning?

Checking the Circuits, Bro. Tim