Disconnected

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”. John 15:5

Last Wednesday morning around 5:00 a.m., a lightning strike fried my phone and internet connection. It was just restored Sunday night about 3:00 p.m. Brother, talk about being digitally disconnected.

When I get used to having something, like electricity, internet and such, I sometimes act real silly. I’ve more than once, during a power outage, walked around the house flipping light switches, duh. And when my internet went out, and my internet connection didn’t work, I thought to myself, “I’ll send an e-mail to the carrier telling them…”, duh.

I do the same thing when I allow myself to be distracted by the world and become disconnected from Jesus, usually without even realizing it’s happened. I might be feeling a little down and I’ll think “just put on some peppy music or eat some ice cream that’ll fix it”. I always get the same result as flipping the light switch when the power’s out or trying to go to a different computer when the internet is down, nada. And worse yet it’s like ignoring my best friend who is always there to help with a problem.

Staying connected, as I’ve painfully discovered, isn’t something that I can do once in the morning, like shaving, and forget the rest of the day. It’s a discipline reinforced by queues such as a cross in my pocket or a Bible verse on my key chain. I pray that someday, I’ll be like some of the saints that I’ve known who can’t take a breath without giving thanks for it. For now I’ll just keep working on improving my intermittent connectivity. And the really cool thing is, when I realize something’s missing and I move to restore the connection, He’s always there ready to receive, already knowing what I need.

Bless you brothers, live this day in peace, in His Word.