I cancelled my internet service at home a while back. Since then, I’ve either been using the computer at family members’ homes, or more often than not, taking my laptop someplace where I can tap into a Wi-Fi hotspot. A few weeks ago I discovered that I could tap into an unsecured Wi-Fi connection right here at my kitchen table! That is, when the connection is available. And the availability of the signal is often hit-and-miss, with more “miss” than “hit” in the evening hours when I want to be on line. It seems as soon as the connection is established and I open a web page, the connection is gone. This can be a problem, especially when reading and sending e-mails. If the connection fails, I cannot send replies, or even go to the next email in my inbox. I end up spending more time checking to see if I have a “live” connection, more than I spend actually online. An analogy might be that I’m spending more time asking “Are we there yet?” more than I’m spending time actually in the car. As much as I’m inconvenienced by this, I can’t complain. After all, I’m on someone else’s unsecured connection – their internet provider has no responsibility to me.
*grrrrr…..*
Tonight was another one of those “miss more than hit” nights. Oh, sure, I could have packed up the laptop and gone to a hotspot for a connection, but I didn’t have any internet business to take care of that couldn’t wait until tomorrow evening. I can’t post my blog directly to my blog, so the plan is to write to a word document, then copy and paste it to the blog. And I pondered, if God showed up, what would He be trying to teach me through this?
Guess what, dear reader … God showed up in the ponder.
In the shallow end of the ponder, God always shows up. He’s not a “hit and miss” God. He’s always there, always available for connection. You don’t have to ponder too deeply to discover that.
In the deeper parts where others wonder if you are going to come up for air soon, I pondered about losing the connection. Paul tells us, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17. And while you’re looking it up, Paul gives us some other valuable tidbits … but I digress…)
Pray without ceasing. Reminds me of a parable that Jesus told about a widow who presented her case before a judge, pleading for him to give her fair treatment in court and granting justice against her adversary. (The story is in chapter 18 of the book of Luke.) The judge was not what you would consider a people person. He really didn’t give a flying (fill in the blank) about the lady, or even God for that matter. So brushed her off, and went on to the next case. The woman persisted, though, and kept pleading her case, kept asking for justice. Apparently this went on for some time. The judge kept dismissing her, but she refused to give up. Finally, the judge decided he’d been pestered long enough. Even though he didn’t care one iota about this widow or her case, he gave in, and saw that justice was served, so that she wouldn’t wear him out with her constant cries for help.
Things could have ended differently for our widow. She could have given up. Or, the judge could have banned her from returning by imposing a fine or providing “public housing with open bars” for a night or two. Certainly she had more “misses” than “hits.” But because of her persistence in trying to connect with the one person who had the power to help, the judge took notice, took her seriously, and finally heard the case and rendered a decision.
Every minute of every day, God hears us plead our case for help. We serve a God who wants to give us good things in our lives. We ask for things that we believe are within the scope of God’s will for our lives, things like healthy family relationships, provision for our most basic needs, people to come along side of us, for wisdom. Sometimes we don’t sense God’s answer, so we get frustrated and think He doesn’t care about our request. And in our frustration, we give up.
Jesus goes on to explain the parable to his followers:
The Lord said: “Think about what that crooked judge said. Won't God protect his chosen ones who pray to him day and night. Won't he be concerned for them? He will surely hurry and help them. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find on this earth anyone with faith?”
Pray without ceasing …
Try connecting again ...
Oh yay!!! I'm online!!!!
Copy. Paste. Publish. Done! Thank you, Lord!
Comments