On most Saturday mornings, I meet with a small group of people at our church building. We sing, pray and worship together. On Sunday mornings, we provide leadership in worship for our congregation. I’ve often wondered at the practice of “practicing” worship. On the one hand, it makes sense to practice that which we want to perfect. On the other hand, practicing can be so boring! Well, our Saturday morning get togethers are far from boring.

Over the Christmas season, our son, Mark, came to visit for a week or so. We were sitting together on a Sunday morning on my designated pew. I use a special monitor speaker to help me hear better and sing on pitch. (I have a rather profound hearing loss in one ear). As the music started, I couldn’t hear anything through my speaker. I asked Mark if he’d slip back and ask the person on the sound board to raise the volume.

When Mark came back, he told me that it was already turned on and set at the normal level. As we visited about the problem, Mark suddenly noticed that the cable that was supposed to carry the sound signal to my speaker was lying on the floor, unattached to anything. After he plugged it in, my speaker worked just fine.

In our lives, we have a built-in system through which God can communicate with us. We hear from Him through the Bible. We hear from Him through our conscience. We hear from Him through our mind. We also hear from Him through our friends and family.

What happens when the lines of communication get unplugged? For one thing, we’re forced to harmonize with His purposes and His people based solely on our own resident thoughts, reasonings, and abilities. When we have no input, we tend to drift away from those principles which are so helpful to us in guiding our lives and governing our behavior.

People use different terms to describe this condition. Some call it “backsliding”; some call it “breaking fellowship”; some call it “growing cold”; others call it “straying”. No matter what one calls it, it means that we’re not plugged into God in order to get His feedback and instructions. Is there a solution? Get ready. This is going to sound soooooooo simple: plug the cable back in! Renew the relationship! Correct the problem! Repent! Whatever it takes: Get plugged!

What do we do with those who’ve never been connected to the Father? We love them; we pray for them; we sow seeds in their lives; we live a Godly life in front of them and thereby set a proper example for them. We do all we can to introduce them to Jesus.

What Life Lessons Did I Discover
Through This Experience?

• None of us has immunity from carelessness. Plugs get pulled.
• We, on our own or with the help of a close friend, may have to do a little detective work. (As a last resort, we can even seek the Lord’s help in finding the unplugged connection!)
• With a little perseverance, we can find the source of the problem and get it fixed.
• Finding the cause of the problem can be so simple that we overlook it!

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