I DIDN’T CONNECT…AGAIN!

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” (Isaiah 40:29 NIV)

Literally I didn’t connect…again! I did everything right; except I did not connect…again! Very early in the morning on Tuesday, I went to the store and brought all my ingredients to make a pot roast for dinner. I purchased two good size pieces of lean beef, a can of mushroom soup, a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of beef broth, a package of mini potatoes, some small cucumbers, some yellow corn, and fresh French cut green beans. I left out the onions and garlic cloves on purpose. After getting my exercise, moving furniture and décor items around, I pulled out the crock pot, cutting board, and a special knife that my wife ordered with a blade that is so sharp that it has its own sheath. I started preparing dinner for the evening meal, intending to let the prepared meal cook all day on the slow setting. While cooking, I asked my electronic device to play one of my favorite songs, “I Got Just What I Wanted,” a good tempo church song. The lyrics included these words: “I got my blessing!  I got my breakthrough!  I got my miracle!” I got just what I wanted from the Lord.”  (About now you are saying, “Okay MK, you have given us a cooking lesson and introduced us to a song! Isn’t this supposed to be a meditation?” The answer: “Yes!”  Keep reading!)

If you can imagine me cooking, you will visualize me trying to prepare a meal at the same pace as one of those shows on the cable TV cooking channel. I had the rhythm and even acted as if I was telling an interested audience how to prepare a good meal in minutes. In no time at all, I get everything in the crock pot, put the lid back on it, and I turn the dial to slow. I clean up my mess and go to the next project for the day. Incidentally, that “slaving in the kitchen all day” might have been fitting back in grandma’s day, but it is a misnomer, a misleading term, these days. Smile!

Around noon I go into the kitchen to see how warm the crock pot feels. To my surprise, it was cold. I checked the setting. Everything was good. I looked at the clock on the stove. The time was correct, so the power was on. Investigating further, I see that the crock pot is not plugged in to the outlet. I have done this once before, but now I have to scream out, (no one was home but me) “I didn’t connect…again!”

The lesson! You can have the newest bible with all the helps, maps, charts, and cross references. You can do your Bible Study Class homework regularly and faithfully, and completely, and let me add obediently to the charge to “Study to show yourself approved.” You can dress in such a way that there is no doubt in the eyes of onlookers that you are a child of God. You can have a plethora of publications, books of all types, staged in every room of the house. Your diplomas hung on the wall suggests that you have acquired knowledge by matriculating and mastering learning through various halls of education at varying levels. Every day on this earth you have learned things just by living. All that is good! However, just like me and my recent cooking experience that I described above, things will not come out as good as possible if you do not stay connected to the power source. The power source that I am referring to is God, our Sovereign Creator who has all power! He is omnipotent!

Look, I know it’s Friday night, and whether you just got paid or not, listen to these words. Last weekend you might have not connected…again to our divine power source. But if that is the case, do things right this weekend, starting today, Friday. Don’t find yourself saying, “I didn’t connect again!” Have a powerful weekend, my friend. Be blessed!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10 NIV)

Committed to the climb,

Mark L. King