Making the Connection

Today I walked in God's beautiful nature.



It wasn't my plan to do that - I wanted to get on line and write my weekly blog. I had an idea that I wanted to develop, and even though friends tried to get me to go outside and enjoy this beautiful fall day, I was sure my job was to send my message out and reach the millions for Christ. So I sent them out of the house, encouraging my wife to join them, because I needed the solitude to "wax eloquent" and do my spiritual "thing."



As soon as they were gone I fired up the computer and, surrounded by heavy books of spiritual knowledge and inspiration, I clicked the button that would send me into Internet space. But nothing happened. All I got was a message that said the computer couldn't find the server, or some lame excuse like that. I shut the computer off and restarted it. No change - still the same message.



By this time I was getting frustrated. I got my laptop computer out and clicked it on. It searched and searched, but finally it came back with the same message - no connection to the Internet.



The irony of it all suddenly hit me, and I started laughing (no one was in the house, so that reduced my chances of someone thinking I had lost it mentally!). Here I was, so "gung ho" about doing the Lord's work, and yet I had no connection to the very medium that I needed to get my message out! I could have typed the best sermon, created the most memorable quotes, but they would have stayed on my computer, and no one else would have seen them or received any benefit from them.



I thought a lot about this as I rode my old Honda up the road to the trail head, and even more while I walked through the woods, listening to the squirrels and chipmunks and birds, watching the ducks in the lake, and seeing the beauty around me. I settled on two things that impressed me from this experience.



First, we can want to do great things for God, but it's not us nor our power that is ever going to make anything happen. God can use us, but only when we have a direct connection with Him. Just like my computer was not able to send any messages outside of my home without that connection, we are not able to do anything without an active connection - a continual connection - with God. That connection is through our prayers and spending time with Him in His Word.



Second, God wants us to recharge our own batteries. He knew I had experienced a hard week, with trials at work, going to the funeral of the husband of a friend, and wondering what was going to happen next in the world. He knew that nothing would refresh me like a brisk walk in His second Book - the Book of Nature. And He was right.



Let's see - what was I going to write about? You know, it doesn't seem to be that important right now. It can wait until another day. I think I'm going to go on the back deck and listen to the river and watch the sun go down. I've got some connecting to do with my Heavenly Father.



Oh, by the way - the Internet connection just needed to be reset. No big deal....

God bless you abundantly!