"Connections That Count"

Well there it is, my flip phone just chirped in a most annoying way to tell me that it was now out of power and going to shut down, go to sleep, stop performing its functions.

What can be the problem?

The phone shows some wear (don' we all) but overall it works.  It contains contact numbers, calendar information, Push To Talk contact data, and the list goes on.  Certainly that information should be enough to keep the phone going but it is not!

Ever notice how people have come to believe that if they just know enough, have enough connections, etc. they can overcome any and all situations?  Still my phone just does not work.

The last time the phone was charged, it accepted the charge until the battery was full.  Certainly that battery should be enough to keep the phone going but it is not!

How about people seeking to have some internal power based upon some inherent element of their lives and/or personalities?  Still life just does not work for them.  Something must be different but what?  No matter the personality and uniqueness of my phone it just does not want to work.

The transformer and power cord function just fine.  In fact there are two power cords, one for the car and the other that came with the phone.  Both are fine and are capable of charging the phone's battery.  Not too long ago they did so.  Yet, there is a problem--no power and thus no phone.

Ever notice how people have come to believe that if they attend church an hour a week and read their Bible once in a while, and maybe say grace at a meal now and then that their faith works for them.  Yet it does not because there is a faulty connection!  Then something goes wrong and they question, "God where are You?" or "Where did You go?"

You see that is the problem with the phone.  It is not the phone itself, nor is it the source of power.  Both are fine!  It is just that the connection does not work very well and so getting the power into the phone thus to recharge the battery just does not happen.  There is a connection problem or we might say problem connection.

So too with God.  He is there, all powerful, ever present, all knowing, and very interested in a solid relationship with each of us (that would be a solid connection).  Here we are with our bumps and blemishes and imperfections, but even at our lowest ebb, with enough capacity to establish and enjoy that connection.  The problem is in our side of the connection for we seek to dictate the terms thereof.

So it is with the phone.  If I am willing to hold the phone and the power cord in just the right attitude to one another it will take a charge.  There is a problem with the phone's side of the connection.  So too there is a problem with our connecting with God but it is not on His side, it is on ours. 

The connection between God and man and man and God is decided and designed by God.  If we are ever going to experience that connection to its fullness, then we are going to have to come on God's terms and in His ways not our own good ideas. Just because we have a good idea about this connection does not mean that it is reality.

So why doesn't faith work for me?  --It is a connection problem.
So why can't I feel God's love?  --It is a connection problem.
So why does this bad habit hang on to my life?  --It is a connection problem.
So why can't I feel God's presence? --It is a connection problem.
So why doesn't my prayer work?  --It is a connection problem.
So why can't I feel connected to other people?  --It is a connection problem.
So why doesn't the Bible make sense to me?  --It is a connection problem.
So why doesn't __________ work for me?  --It is a connection problem.

The reality is that the beginning place is the Lord, Jesus Christ and a relationship with Him.  It is from that initial start that one can have an unshakeable relationship (connection) with the Divine.  It is in that initial connection and as we grow in that relationship that we find power to do not just the day to day of life but even in those times when we are called upon to do the impossible.

Thirsty? Come!

Most of us can relate to the feelings of thirst.  Of course the solution to thirst is to take in generous amounts of water--pure water.

Sometime ago as I watched a television piece on “mud” Marines in a war zone.  It was a very warm, if not hot place.  Their Gunny in no uncertain terms told his Marines to “hydrate!”  If he understood one thing it was that to get the most out of his Marines they had to have plenty of water on board. 

Then there was the story that took place in the days of sail--that time when "Iron men sailed wooden ships."  Such ship was in straitened circumstances in the doldrums near the Equator.  She had no wind in her sails and soon she had no water in her stores.  This went on for a time until the winds returned and she was able to get underway.  The sailors were struggling with thirst.  As they sailed another ship happened by and using semaphore the message went across between the ships, “We need water, can you assist?”

In the same manner the answer came back, “Let down your buckets you are surrounded by fresh water.”  What the ship's captain did not know was that just out of sight over the horizon there was a river that poured so many millions of gallons of fresh water into the ocean they were surrounded by it.  Now to be sure I do not know how true the story was or is but there is a principle present in both of these stories.

When we are thirsty—spiritually thirsty and we realize that we are so, what we may not realize is that we are surrounded by that which satisfies the thirst.  Jesus Christ said, "Let him who thirsty come to Me and drink."  So we know that there is a standing invitation to "Come" and to "Drink."  Although sometimes we tend to place a divide between genuine faith and technology, now like never before this is available to us sources of spiritual fresh water.

However, man being man there are choices to make.  First, we need to decide whether we are going to ignore and even avoid the feelings by getting involved in avoidance behaviors such as drugs, alcohol, gambling, promiscuity, or even noble endeavors and thus seek to obviate the feelings.  However, understand that those feelings are the call of God and such activities will never satisfy the feelings involved.  The other things to know is that although God's call does not change, with a continued refusal to hear, eventually one loses the capacity to hear God's call.

The second option is to acknowledge the feelings--that call to "Come" and to "Drink" and respond to them.  Here again we have a choice to make.  Are we going to respond in our way or God’s way?  If we respond in our own way it will be much like the previous point.  Such a response tends to mold God into our image of what He should be rather than molder our view into His image of who is this God.  Thus, much busyness and activity but little fulfillment and sense of connection with God.

Then there is the third way of response.  It is the way of humility which allows one to hydrate in prayer, the Word of the Lord, and genuine Christian teaching.  We are blessed with much opportunity for same in that we are surrounded by Christian radio, Christian television, and the Internet.  All one has tot do is to let down one's bucket as we are surrounded by those who rightly divide and then teach the Word of the Lord.  Historically the Church has called these and other things such as fasting, spiritual retreats, pondering the Word of God and other things, Spiritual Disciplines. 

For those who have a deeper yet thirst for the things of God, there are many Bible training courses available on the internet.  Some are from major “right on target” Christian ministries who provide such as a free service.  Then too, there are small group Bible studies, Church Sunday Schools classes, and much, much more.

So I say, “Let down your bucket, you are surrounded by those things that can deeply satisfy your spiritual thirst.”  Such activity will then lead to a life of fulfilled service.

"Do I Really Want The Pain Go Away?"

Dismissing the Discomfort

Maybe you have noticed as I have, that there is a rejection of and even a rebellion against that which is  painful.  Such attitudes have progressed or we might even say regressed until there is rejection of and rebellion against that which is even mildly disagreeable to us.  How often have you heard someone in a mildly objectionable circumstance make the statement that they deserve better.

Yet in considering those situations and circumstances most people with any self awareness at all understand that when difficulty comes, their emotional reaction fits somewhere between mildly disagreeable to deep agony.  Certainly there are a number of words that one might employ to describe his emotional reaction.

Another element is that different people respond to the same circumstances with different emotional reactions.  In other words ones' capacity to deal with difficulty is very individual and thus what one person might view as mildly unpleasant, another might view as extremely offensive.

Why is this rejection and even rebellion so?  Would it not be easier to just move to contrite acceptance.  Consider the following as a possible answer to that question!  

Consider as well that such a desire for restoration creates a tension with the world in which one lives as one seeks to negate the effects of living in and among fallen people, in fallen bodies, in a fallen world order, and in a fallen environment.  This falleness is is not as God intended in the original creation.

Since mankind is created in the image of the Divine, there is within each of us a spark of the Divine--a vestige  though marred by self and sin of the "created in God's image" part of man.  Within that spark are a number of the higher values of man such as creative expression, justice, etc.  There also is the desire for restoration.


It then follows that as we are in a straightened circumstances, that we should be stressed.  However, there is more and it is that we who live with the Divine in view before us, should  stress these things!  That is we should be a stress to those elements of life that create or should we say occasion our reactions on the mildly disagreeable to deep agony emotional reaction scale.

Said another way, just as God's provision of a way for man to be restored to Himself so too within mankind in general and within each man there is that penchant for restoration.  For example, suppose sees another person who has lost the capacity to walk.  Further the first person knows of a medical miracle worker who can restore the capacity to walk.  Most people even though risking scorn, would tell the person in hopes that the stranger who they might never see again would be restored as opposed to simply accepting the situation.


So it is when we are emotionally embroiled in the discomforts and inconveniences of the unpalatable situations and circumstances of life.  Such a "restorative" desire occasions action and such action in some sense seeks to redeem or buy back ourselves and others from the negative situations, circumstances, and feelings that come upon a person.  Another example would be seeking to once again be healthy following major surgery.

However, there must be a healthy caveat in this discussion and it has to do with God's intervention in the lives of  His followers for His purposes.  

Yes, we want to fix the objectionable elements of our lives.  However, it may be that God's intention is that we gracefully carry the uncomfortable elements of our lives.  You see there are some things for which we must be responsible.  On the other hand, there are other things, even if we were vested with all the responsibility in the world, we can do nothing about and those things we must make it our business to make them God's business.  

Think with me about the notion that everything that I find objectionable in life must be fixed!  What might be some of the unintended outcomes. One outcome is that we would then place unfair burdens upon the one carrying the difficulty.  Thus one might hear the following,

Why are you not healed?  Why do you keep on falling back into your sinful habits?  Why do you consistently fail in the Faith?  Why do you not have victory in this area of your life?  Why is it impossible for me to win over some other reflection of my selfishness?

I suppose you might sum up these and other life'e experiences with the thought, Life is at times very trying!

Then ask the question, What do these unfair expectations say about God? You've no doubt heard the questions as I have.

If you are God, why don't you heal or provide, or give me (or them) strength, or victory over a sinful habit, or some other thought about being an over-comer? 

I suppose you ight sum up these and other question with the thought,  God is at times very trying!


It seems to me that if God were to take away the objectionable elements of our lives it would also mean that He would then be removing some key elements of our relationship with Him.  For example,

To remove all that is unpleasant and trying would be to remove the necessity for trust in the Lord.  It also would mean that the necessity for grace is now gone.  What would such a thing say about the opportunities to grow through developing a forgiving heart?

Admittedly there are more questions than answers in the above.  However, there are two things that we do know.  First and of prime importance is this.  When our days of trouble are ended we who follow Christ, will know perfect and complete victory. Those nagging vestiges of our sinful flesh will be left behind.   Second, though we are to be responsible, show initiative, live out ethical qualities, still in all, we are but reader-observers of our day.  The true author who is writing the eternal Kingdom of Heaven story is the only one who knows the great purpose in all that is discussed above.

Though it is of little comfort in the midst of trial, temptation, failure, and frustration, it is not that it is our story but it is His story and we get to be a small part of that narrative.  At least for the days we are given on this earth.  Could it be that the pains and discomforts of this life are a part of His story.  Is that not the point of "...all things work together for good for them who are called for the purposes of God?"

"Salvation or Social Idealism"

Fr. Tryphon writes,


"Just as we have seen the progressive moral bankruptcy of our society, we have also been witness to the wholesale sellout of traditional Christianity by much of America's religious community. The partial adherence of many of America's denominations to the traditional Gospel call to repentance, forgiveness and redemption through Christ, has given way to a new kind of salvation. These "churches" are now more concerned with social idealism than seeing souls saved through entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ. They have ignored Our Lord's own words, "My kingdom is not of this world". They have shown forth for all to see that their loss of faith has led to a replacement of the good news of salvation in Christ, with a mandate to build a Utopian society where social justice and peace reign forever. They have forgotten that Christ said we would never attain this outside of His Kingdom, 'which is to come'."


Full article available at https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Merciful-Saviour-Orthodox-Christian-Monastery/104578182913886 and also at  http://www.morningoffering.blogspot.com/


May you be blessed with but more importantly challenged by Fr. Trypon's words.  Reading carefully and prayerfully will not only enlarge your view but challenge your heart to a deeper commitment to the Lord, Jesus Christ and His eternal Kingdom. 


It is of utmost importance, indeed imperative that we who are followers of Jesus keep in mind that it is an "already" and "not yet" proposition.  For those who do not understand, we enjoy some of the benefits of following Jesus Christ "already" (in the now) but they are a mere shadow of what we will enjoy (the "not yet") when we are united with our Lord and Savior.  Indeed is not that the hope that should cause all of this life to grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace*?.


*From the chorus Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

How Big and Involved is God?

Do we not live in a world that suggests to us that if God exists at all He is uninvolved and limited or uncaring and distant?  A world that suggest we must be self sufficient because God will not or cannot be involved in our lives.  We might ask ourselves, do we live according to that message?  Sometimes it seems that we have such limited confidence in God that we live as if He created and left—carrying on in such a way that suggests God is but He cannot or will not involve Himself in the lives of His followers. 

Yet, most people talk of God as if He is ever present, all knowing, and all powerful.  Certainly for them and even for those of faith, there is a disconnect between knowing and doing.  How can we overcome such disconnects as we might uncover in our own lives? 

It is here that a faith is needed—faith in an able God—a big, big God.  It is a faith that leads to action, the living out of what is known about God.  Indeed faith without action is a dead faith! The reality of western Christianity is that it has become a matter of personality and/or program.   However, today in other places in our world, it is not so.  Christianity is vibrant because it is not easy to live it out and a relationship with a Big God is absolutely essential!

Such Christianity is simple to explain but a little more difficult in practice.  It comes as one: 1. learns what the Bible has to say, 2. joins in genuine fellowship with other Christians, 3. prays about the lessons learned, and then 4. lives out those lessons in the day to day of life.  Indeed that is the practice of Christianity.  There is one more point necessary and that is to understand that such Christian practice runs counter to our culture and is not unopposed and as such it can often require a big and capable God who is involved!