Staying connected

Last month Sue and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary.  We didn't do the normal kind of thing like going out for a celebratory meal; instead we went along to a Pantomime at church!  Sue tells me that before we were married I said to her that ours would be the first perfect marriage.  I can't actually remember saying that, but if I did, my prediction was a long way from reality.  We've had our fair share of ups and downs over the years, and there have probably been times when we've felt like we were in a pantomime, but I know that I have been enormously blessed to have Sue by my side over the past 38 years.  I don't imagine that I would be where I am without having had her support and encouragement.

A few days ago I received an e-mail to advise me that my TomTom navigation device was in need of updating with the latest road information etc.  I have to say that when we first owned a sat-nav it did immediately improve our marriage, because one of the areas where Sue and I regularly fell out was over driving and navigation.  For whatever reason, our teamwork as a couple often fell apart when it came to navigating our way round the country.  Now that we can rely on the sat-nav, we have far fewer in-car arguments!

But the reality is that new roads are being built all the time, and junctions and speed limits are regularly being amended, so it is important to keep the device up to date.  I therefore had to connect the device to my laptop and download the revised information from the TomTom website.  It didn't take too long and was a fairly simple procedure.

As I looked at the screen and noticed the message, "Updating.  Do not disconnect your device," into my popped the thought that this is an image of how it is with our relationship with God.  Unless we keep 'connected' to God, our relationship with him can become stale and out of date.

It is quite clear that Jesus modelled the "connected" life.  For example, he said of himself on one occasion, "the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does" (John 5:19).  He also said, "I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it" (John 12:49).  In other words, Jesus lived each moment in intimate and constant relationship (connection) with the God the Father, so that all he did was in response to what Father was showing and saying to him.

How I long for such a connected relationship with my heavenly Father.  And I also thank God for the invention of the sat-nav!