Interrupting the Reception

Nothing is more frustrating than the moment the signal fails. Right in the middle of Hurry… you are stopped dead and going now where. Right in the middle of Important you are stalled. Right in the middle of Crucial you go crazy!

That is the story of the Wireless Connection. Let me explain.

My neighbor graciously shares his Internet with me. Through the magic of a Router that is placed close to his window the signal travels through his window, across the street and through my window to my Laptop Computer… it is interpreted by the computer and then I am on. Well sometimes that is…

From time to time the connection is dropped – but that is normal. At times the signal is not strong. When there are no leaves on the trees the signal is much stronger. Leaves come or heavy rain falls and it will all affect the results of the reception.

Then there are other times that some connection along the Internet Pipeline will break down… too many people… and then different times of the day when way too many people are trying to get on to the Internet… like right after school… I have come to expect some of the normal interruptions… little pauses in Life.

The other day I was cooking… rolling right along with a good connection – then BANG it was all over. Nothing at all. No resets – no restarts – nothing would help. What in the world was wrong?

I looked up and saw the problem. Normally with this wireless connection stuff you cannot see the problem – but this time it was easy. And the problem lasted for more than twenty minutes!

A large moving van from a local furniture company pulled up in front of our house. Another neighbor was having a whole room full of furniture delivered. With her new purchase came the help that the store had advertised – “We will take away your old furniture when we deliver the new things you buy”.

That meant that the Furniture Moving Van parked directly in the path of my wireless signal – stopping everything!

Blockages – what a pain. They slow me down. They stop me dead. They frustrate my progress to no end. Grrr… “I don’t need this now!” is a pretty common feeling in my world.

But there are pauses in life that are necessary in order to refocus on the next major event. These pauses may be more important than the event we are now attending to… far more important!

As I have been reading the account of Moses I have found a perfect example. If you have studied his life you will remember that he is the leader that brought his people, the Children of Israel, out of the harsh treatment of Egypt. He is known as a leader that took on monumental tasks and completed the job that he was asked to do.

Do you remember where it all started? How did he move from relative insignificance to be the amazing leader that he would become?

The answer is – the pauses in his life made the difference.

Moses had taken up a new task in a new land and with a new family. He had been doing this task for many years now – 40 to be exact. He had escaped from the murder wrap and ran to a new place. For 40 years now he has basically done little but walk around with smelly sheep following him… from pasture to pasture. Every day was pretty much the same – boring.

One day as he came closer to Mt. Horeb something interrupted his regular routine. A bush was on fire but not burning up. He came closer and it was in that pause that God spoke to him from the Burning Bush.

Pauses for Moses were important. In my life I find that it is the most important things that could happen to me – or have happened to me – happen with “the pause”. “The Pause” takes me away from the common and the norm of everyday routine. It shakes my world if I am ready to have it shaken. For me it is a time when God often gives a brand new idea, changes a confusing direction, or does something so new and different that it is shocking.

Pauses are good. Pauses can be a trip somewhere alone. Pauses can be on a vacation away from it all. Pauses are really good.

When the moving van pulled up in front of my Wireless connection I took a break and went outside. There was another neighbor and we talked. It was one of the best talks I have had for a long time. We shared details that neither of us had before. Trust is there now and we opened to each other.

Getting away from the Norm – from the Routine – can make a huge difference. It did for Moses and it has for me.

Losing my job and walking out of the Norm and Routine of pastoral work is nothing short of HARD! In fact it approaches the IMPOSSIBLE when you enter a new world of the UNKNOWN. That is where I began the journey on June 23, 2008. Nothing has been the same since that Magic Monday Morning. WOW!

Each day has been quieter and more still than others before. I can feel again. The Dumb Numb is gone. Dumb Numb? Yah – it happens when everyone lays their expectations on you with a demand to make them feel better… now try that for 10 years – and you become Dumb Numb and simply function each day because you have to… maybe not because you want to.

I referred to this important saying/verse from the Psalms a few days ago – here it comes again – “Be still and know that I am God…”

It takes a Burning Bush to stop some people… and a job loss to stop others. Interrupting the Reception is good – not bad. For it is then that you will hear again.

Reflecting and Feeling again…

~ Murray Lincoln ~