No connection

There was no voice, no dial-tone, nothing…

 

I spent six days of last week without a phone line working in my house.  I made a call and then the phone just went dead. I checked the connection, I checked the phone in the other bedroom, then the study and then the internet… yep, and they were all out!

 I spent ten minutes ferreting around in my desk draw to find the number for ‘Telstra difficulties and faults’, walked back to the kitchen and picked up my phone to ring them (this was just before I noticed the flaw in my plan!).   The Telstra technician came and inspected the lines going into the house.  I received a card saying the problem was not on the outside of the house but on the inside.   Three days later another technician came into the house and found that one small wire had become dislodged and so, with a skilful hand, my connection was restored! 

How is your connection with God?  Is it a call you place daily or only once a week?  Is it a service you only utilise at Christmas and Easter or is it reserved only for emergencies? Maybe you have lost your connection altogether and you don’t even know what went wrong.  You might look like you are going really well on the outside but the problem rarely is there. The good news is that there is a skilful hand who can re-establish your connection immediately.   

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”             John 10:27

 

Bee sting

I was walking around with the problem long before the problem struck! 

I was standing at the pier at
Brooklyn recovering from the first half of a bike ride when I felt something move under my shirt.  Without much thought I touched the small moving lump only to be greeted with an excruciating stab of pain.  The bee, which had flown into my shirt during the ride, had decided to strike as I had reached in to see what was crawling around in there.  

Bee stings are dangerous things: Some people experience a small reaction (pain and a small mark); others have a mild reaction (ongoing discomfort and an uncomfortable sore); but for a small group of people a bee sting brings on swelling, breathing difficulties and even death. 

I am so glad that I fall into the second category I am also glad that the bee stung me after I had got off of my bike rather than whilst I was riding down the road!  

The Bible speaks of a “sting” that we are all carrying around whether we know it or not.  Sin is the bee and the sting is Death. This is a sting that has only one symptom; 100% of people face it! It is a sting that impacts the way we function in this life and determines our destination for the next. The great news is that Jesus has the power to deal with the bee but also to reverse all of the effects the sting works within us.  

Only when we accept Jesus can we say… “death, where is your sting?”  1 Cor 15:55

Dig deep!

The first few times it happened there was no problem but slowly and surely the effects began to show.  It started as a tremble, it grew into a shudder, matured into a sway and finally became an awful lurch! There was no way that my fence was going to stay standing when it was copping such abuse. 

The ‘fence abuser’ was not a disgruntled neighbour but my 26 kg dog who, because of his inquisitive and active nature, has taken to launching himself full speed at the fence.  The reason he does this is so that he can have a quick look to see what is happening on the ‘other side’ of the seven foot fence, where I am sure he believes the grass is greener! 

Because my children will not allow me to deal with my dog permanently I am left with one choice…I must strengthen my fence.  To achieve this I have to dig some holes and sink some poles to return the fence to an upright state as well as preparing it for future abuse.  At the beginning of this year this becomes a useful metaphor for us all.  

Jesus calls us ‘wise’ when we come to Him.  He says that we are like a man who is building a house “who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.”(Luke 6:48)  When the huge storm comes the house survives because of where it is built!

 

How is your life going?  Strong and secure or is it like my swaying fence? 

 The best answer I can offer is for you to “dig deep” into all the Lord has to offer you this year!