I thought yesterday was going to be an ordinary day ! In fact, I was looking forward to it because I had no commitments or appointments. It was a free-day!
By morning, I knew I had come down with a miserable cold… my throat hurt, I had a hacking cough, my sinuses were stuffed, and my nose was running !
I got up, slipped into my comfy chair to enjoy the pleasurable distraction of my computer.
What greeted me was a black screen. Nothing I did would entice it be anything but unresponsive !
I could not turn on the TV instead. We are in the process of switching our TV signal from satellite back to cable….as a result do not at present have access to TV programming.
Radio signals here are blocked by the mountains so the static crackling reception of the few stations we get is far too aggravating to listen to.
I wanted to make some phone calls .. and was told that the numbers could not be reached. This has never happened before, but I learned that the private company with which we have our long distance plan was having problems with its systems and consequently I could make only local calls. Most of my calls are long distance.
Hmmmm… mix the above ingredients and stew for five minutes and you come up with a miserable day !! Right ?? Wrong !!
I have learned in my years of walking with the Lord that if I look into my cup and see that it is at best only half full… I know the Lord just isn’t finished pouring yet !!!
I placed an SOS phone call to my tech friends in Mississippi and Benji said it was most probably the video card that had failed.
My dear husband was quite willing to go buy me another one and came home with a high end graphics card that was marked down from $235.00 to $69.00. We really needed a better video card than we had because we wanted to connect our TV to our computer. I was thrilled with the ‘deal’ !! But alas it was a faulty card and kept shutting my computer down. So back it went and Vic bought an even better card !! By this afternoon, a day and a half later, my computer was up and running again, better than it was before !
I have found that I don’t really miss the TV, or the radio too much and I could probably live with restricted phone lines but I cannot live without my computer! So being able to get back online today more than delighted me.
And my cold ? Oh yes… it is miserable and I had to postpone an anticipated visit today with a dear friend … but when you have a chronic disease that you will have for the rest of your life.. having a cold that lasts a few days and is gone, is hardly worth griping about !!
But something really grabbed me when I stood in my kitchen yesterday and realized that I had no computer, no TV, no radio and no phone. I felt so totally disconnected. I thought back to what it was like before we had all these technical resouces connecting us with the whole world. If we had to go back to only snail mail... how limited we would be .. how totally cut off !!
Our world has become very small and we have more options to stay connected to one another today than at any other time in history !
I thought about how eager I was to get everything fixed. It was, in fact, the most consuming focus of my day.
Then I wondered …………
We are immediately distraught when we lose our connection with each other.
But do we feel the same about losing our connection with God?
There are several ways God provided for us to be 'connected' - if any one of them is broken do we immediately notice and focus on 'fixing' it?
Are we careful to keep our Christian fellowships strong?
Heb 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
Do we keep our heart in a constant prayer mode ??
1Th 5:17 "Pray without ceasing."
Do we remember to be thankful in everything??
Th 5:18 "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Do we love to read God’s Words to us as eagerly as we read our e-mails?
Jos 1:8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."
Do we feel that we are in ‘peril’ when we realize our communication with God is interrupted ? Do we panic and immediately make every effort to reconnect as quickly as possible ?
Jud 1:21 "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."
Let's remind ourselves today how important it is to take every care to keep our 'Eternal Kingdom' connections strong and secure.
God created us to be in fellowship with each other… but first of all to be in close fellowship with Him !
9 comments:
Julie, I imagine that when our parents were young the letters that arrived to their homes must have been incredibly precious. I remember even when I was young that letters from Russia were opened so carefully so as to not damage the very thin paper inside. Remember the thin paper? Wow, we have become so accustomed to instant communication.
Your practical lesson is very easy to relate to.
Sounds like you are living in the toolies. You always had the opportunity to hop in your car and be with most everyone you wanted to be with within the hour.
What a great lesson you present here. Thank you.
Wow - My Thursday was sort of like that. In my case, I was going to plant grass, so I got the grounds raked up to prepare it. The concrete curbing guys showed up to install the curb. Then they tell me I can't water for 24 hours! The wind came up and was a steady 13 MPH with 30 MPH gust. A dusty, dirty mess to say the least. I couldn't seed, and I couldn't water. Angry and frustrated...God spoke. It was pretty cool. In fact, I blogged about the simple lesson...pretty much like yours. If you have a chance, check out my blog. I'm going to post it tonight. Blessings.
Much to ponder here. Of course you are right, our link with God is the most important.....
wonderful post....you are right. Back to the basics. Sometimes I think just like the techno world, we are also tempted by the brightness and gadgetry of trappings of some religious thots.....we really need to get to the simple basics to see God as He is...and as our personal relationship should be.
Good message.
Take care
What a day you had, and what a lesson you have crafted from it....a lesson that hits right at the heart of the matter, our connection with God. If that is out of whack, nothing else really matters, although for a while we may think so. Thank you, Julie, for this lovely reminder of what is truly important.
I'm afraid I wouldn't have adapted as well as you. Even though I rarely watch TV, if I experienced a day of limited or no connection (computer, phone, TV, etc.) I would be in a completely disconcerted way (that happened three times in 6 weeks when those back-to-back hurricanes hit in 2004 - I paced nonstop and was very irritable). We are so spoiled by instant news, instant connection, instant mail and instant messaging!
I appreciate the lesson here about keeping our connection to God intact.
I hope your cold is much better!
I totally relate to the stranded feeling when electronic communication is down. How amazing is God that He has always manage all the "data" that is sent His way without the faulty stuff we depend on!
I hope your cold is better, and remember to wipe down your keyboard if anyone else wants to use it!
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