Date: September 6th 2010

REFLECTIONS BY THE POND
September 6, 2010


POWER SOURCE

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or
know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and
will be in you."
John 14:16-17
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Back in 1969, back when the hemline wars battled wildly between
the mid-thigh and ankle, back when bell bottoms were the rage and
fabric colors caused migraines, back when nasa prepared for the
moon and Richard Nixon prepared for the White House--back when
the world was at once more simple and perilously confused, Gary
and I readied an old, beat up, discarded bread truck for a summer
journey south.

The point man for the missions group had earlier visited our
church, stroking the congregation for funds and stoking
enthusiasm in those willing to make the journey. His words
ignited our youthful ardor for the unsaved, and my friend and I
committed ourselves to spending the summer of '69 in a mountain
village of eastern Mexico.

The old bread truck was in terrible shape--we probably paid as
much as two hundred dollars for it--and much work was required to
get it ready for the trip. Being teenagers, however, our concern
lay more with creature comforts than structural integrity. The
truck was to be not only our transportation, but our quarters for
the summer, so our priorities were interior looks and ease of
living.

We first built a false floor and laid carpet, then covered the
walls of the cavernous interior with wood paneling. From
someone's basement or attic we acquired an old overstuffed chair,
which made the space look more like Aunt Edith's parlor than a
transport for racks of bread. The interior was finished with a
short wardrobe of sorts, attached to the wall just behind the
driver's seat.

Because teenagers require music, we next considered what we
should install for a sound system. To be honest, the years have
erased the logic behind our decision; it could have been that all
our funds had been used up in the walls and floor of the
interior, or that we simply possessed more records than tapes.
Whatever the reason, for our source of music we mounted a record
turntable atop the wardrobe.

Now, the attentive reader will immediately recognize a problem
with this scheme. For those too young to be conversant in this
antiquated technology, let me explain: Records are played on a
revolving disk, with the actual sounds being picked up off their
surface by a needle affixed to the end of a free-swinging tone
arm. By design, the tone arm pivots side to side, up and down,
letting it track easily through the concentric grooves on the
record. The slightest bump sends it skipping and screeching
across the surface of the platter.

Since the ride of the bread truck was not what one would call
pneumatically sound, this was not a terribly bright decision.
Well, we were teenagers, but we weren't congenitally stupid,
either. We knew the rules. We realized that we would not be using
our fabulous stereo sound system while traveling down the roads
to Mexico--no matter how smooth the pavement. We knew that the
records would remain stacked and silent until we were
stopped--until we could unroll our very, very long extension cord
and plug it into a steady source of electricity at our
destination: the missions church located at the tiny mountain
village of Galeana, Mexico.


Ready and Available

When an individual becomes associated with God through Christ,
that individual is, from that point on, permanently and steadily
linked to Him by the Holy Spirit. The presence of God in that
life is constant: it does not waver, there is no ebb and flow.
The Spirit Himself is likewise constant: He does not vacation or
nap, nor does He present Himself complete to one individual, but
abridged to another. He is there, steady and complete, in every
believer.

Given that, why do so many of us live out our Christian lives
like that truck-bound record player--only energized when we've
stopped and plugged ourselves into the local church?

Every Sunday morning church parking lots the world over fill with
cars. From those transports emerge Christians of every stripe and
color, every economic station and substrata, every personality
and size. Come Sunday morning they arrive dressed in their best
and troop inside for their instruction and worship. For a little
while they are energized, thoroughly and completely connected to
God through study of His word and worship of His holiness. Like
the stereo plugged into the church's electricity, their rejoicing
sounds forth in loud praise while they are connected on Sunday.
But, just as with the portable record player, once they
disconnect and move off, they fall silent.

Technology today has advanced far beyond the idea of mounting a
stereo turntable, or even a cassette player, in a bread truck. CD
and MP3 players long ago replaced the antiquated record player,
and travelers in any vehicle today can enjoy full, symphonic
sound anywhere--even jolting down a rocky path suitable only for
4-wheel drive. And, of course, batteries today are smaller and
more powerful than anything dreamed of in 1969, so the miniature
players can be carried anywhere.

Yet the faith of many is still as moribund as an old record
changer in a dilapidated bread truck. Without the physical hook
up to the institution--without actually being on the church
premises dressed in Sunday finery, their faith is as silent and
lifeless as a turntable strapped down and locked in place for the
bumpy ride.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so
that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are
the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and
what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who
believe. These are in accordance with the working of the
strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when
He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand
in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and
power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in
this age but also in the one to come.
Ephesians 1:18-21

Every Christian today comes equipped with the most sophisticated,
powerful battery pack ever devised, but many still conduct their
lives as if they're powerless outside the four walls of the
church building. Every one of us has been converted into a
freestanding temple, but many are still operating under the idea
that communion with God is either impossible or unnecessary off
the church grounds.

Many Christians today have not learned how to find God in the
small moments of daily living. They've not discovered His
presence--though it is certainly there--in the events and moments
taking place around them every day. And because of this their
praise falls silent, and they miss out on the power and sweet
communion available to them wherever they are, whatever their
activity.

Through Christ Jesus, God has stepped out of the secrecy and
cloying incense of the Most Holy Place. Through Christ, the Holy
Spirit has been released to dwell in each one of us. In Christ
Himself we have a steady, dependable Brother who journeys with
us--not just on Sundays, but through every day of the week.

"...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age."
Matthew 28:20b


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Copyright 2010, David S. Lampel. All rights reserved.
Reflections: #0463
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is from the
New American Standard Bible (Updated Edition).
This and earlier issues of Reflections by the Pond
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