Dear Friends, Greetings!
It so happened recently, for some reason, my husband’s phone completely died. Whichever way we tried it just wouldn’t switch on. We, then, assumed it might be the charger. I ran from pillar to post as Ramesh usually records the snippets of sermons to send out to his circle of friends. It was quite upsetting for him.
As I went to various repair shops to get it sorted, we lost contact with each other! Things looked rather grim when one of the mechanics said that the phone was gone for good and nothing can be done until we ordered new parts. He also said that he couldn’t guarantee the phone would work even after the parts replaced.
Fearful about losing contact with lifetime friends (we didn’t bother syncing the list with Cloud Drive), was quite scary and upsetting. We continued to hope that all shall be well. We held each other’s hands and prayed about the situation. While I was still considering the second option of getting my very old unused phone to use temporarily so that we both could stay connected while I go to work; to our amazement, Ramesh’s phone lit up and restarted after 5-6 hours of being completely dead! At first, we could not believe what had just happened. Ramesh was now back in touch with friends and family. Praise be to God!
So, what did that convince us of? We began to reflect on the word ‘contact’. The world has become contactless in terms of sales and purchases, contact-less or less in contact with each other for safety reasons (remember Covid-19? lockdown? isolation?). Losing contact, human touch, nearness of loved ones has been traumatic for the world for almost the past 3 years, where communication was only possible through virtual/digital media. That fear was valid because no one wanted to lose their loved ones by being in close contact.
Now, let’s think for a moment, shall we. What happens when we lose our contact with our living and loving God? Lost connection makes it hard to hear him and to know his will. This lost connection is, however, scarier than the disconnected phone! It is our choice that takes us away from God’s close contact. The farther we go, the more vulnerable we become. We begin to feel distracted by the things around us. We cannot hear him. Hence, the fears of known and unknown. This fear is a horrifying experience. But here is the good news! Our God who is an amazingly loving, caring and ever-forgiving Father comes to our rescue as he has always done. God’s positioning system or we would call it his GPS; Isaiah 30:21 says, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Are we navigating this life through God’s Positioning System or are we completely disconnected and feeling lost? Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
God bless us all as we begin this new year in close, renewed and recovered connection with Him.
Caroline Pathak
Mission Enabler Longcauseway
