The Connection

My husband and I were away for the weekend.
We went to see our son who lives in a nearby state.
Our son who graduated from law school.
Our son who just passed the bar exam.

The weekend had been planned for quite a while.
The news about passing the bar exam came earlier than expected.
We were thrilled; we are so proud of him.
A celebration, to be sure, once we arrived.

I asked him if I could share his post, his good news on my personal Facebook wall.
He gave me permission to do that since so many of my friends were praying for him.
I thought the word was out, that those who would want to know now knew.
I was wrong; as we sat and talked at dinner he reminded me of the security settings.

Only people that are our mutual friends can read my posts when you share them.
My husband sat there and said two words, too complicated.
This from the man who does not have Facebook.
This from the man who thinks the whole thing is pointless.

My son and I talked about social media’s advantages and disadvantages.
I consider it ministry and a way to keep connected with old friends.
The high privacy settings, which are so necessary, are set and forgotten.
Click POST and I’m under the impressions the word has gone forth.

Not true!

Levels of privacy settings.
Highly secure.
Minimally secure.
Public.

In today’s culture, a public setting is not wise.
Not everyone needs to know your current location.
Not everyone needs to keep track of your activities.
Not everyone needs to see your pictures.

I rarely have my location setting turned on, unless I need to use a map.
The world does not need to know my every move.
God knows.
That’s enough for me.

I woke up the first morning we were away, showered, dressed and sat down to write.
This connection cannot be trusted the warning announced with an exclamation point.
The hotel has free WiFi for its guests, but there was a problem.
There was a breakdown somewhere in the connection.

At home, I don’t even think about it.
I sit down, open my laptop and begin to write.
Here, in this other place, something was impeding the direct connection.
I was ready to go downstairs to lobby area, but my husband remedied the problem.

There was a setting that needed to be changed on my browser.
A setting that was not allowing me to connect.
Something was blocking the flow.
Something unseen was a hindrance.

O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in – behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make a bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You. (Psalm 139:1-12)

As believers in Jesus Christ, our connection with God is never broken.
There is no privacy setting so great that God does not know where we are at any moment.
How comforting to be so completely known; so perfectly held.
How wonderful to know that we can communicate with God at any moment.

There is one thing that will hinder our connection; one thing that will hinder our prayers.
SIN.
The presence of sin acts as a Plexiglass wall, hindering our prayers from getting through.
There is a remedy.

FORGIVENESS.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

If we ask for forgiveness with a sincere heart, that forgiveness is ours.
The Plexiglass wall is removed.
The connection is open.
Any time, any place we have access to God.

Our lives are public before Him and that is a good thing.
There is no need to hide from God when our relationship with Him is through Jesus.
The connection is secure.
The connection is unhindered.

It is good to be seen and known completely by a Holy God.
It is good when nothing impedes our conversation with Him.
No need to click POST, our status is always known.
No need to adjust our settings since they are in His Hands.

In Christ, we are secure.
In Christ, the connection can be trusted.