Staying Connected

This is the time of year when many students are returning to the classrooms for a new school year.   I would guess that some of you have already seen your children or grandchildren make that trek for their first day of school and the rest of you will see them do the same very soon.   When I retired from full time ministry a few years ago, one of the things I decided to do was to take some classes at our local community college.   After completing the enrollment process, I decided to take a class in an area that was unrelated to the pastoral ministry:  marketing.   One of the things I learned about marketing is that businesses should stay in touch with their customer base regularly.   That is why you see car dealerships show the same commercial on television time after time and why retail businesses send you emails about their latest sale at least once a week.   They want you to not forget about them, and want to stay connected to you.

It is good and important to stay connected in not only business relationships, but in our personal relationships.    Isn’t that why  we phone or text regularly our friends and loved ones?   Isn’t that why we think it important to have a “date night” with our spouses, children, and friends?   We not only want to stay connected, but we need to stay connected.  

The importance of being connected to your customer in business and being connected to friends and family got me to thinking about our connection to God.   Are we staying connected to God?  Are we taking time to read and listen to the Holy Scriptures, and to speak to God and have God speak to us in prayer?      Perhaps there is no person that has ever walked the face of the earth that faced more demands than Jesus.   People were always clammering for his touch and his word   Yet,  Jesus took time amid the many demands upon him to go to a lonely place and spend time in prayer with his heavenly Father.     This routine had such an impression on his disciples that we read in Luke 11 that they asked Jesus to teach them to pray.   As students learn new things in a new school year,   let each of us learn to stay connected with our heavenly Father.  Will you join me in prayer?   Will you join me in prayer for our students and school staff for a safe, fruitful school year?  Have a joy-filled week.—Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God,  we thank you for the gift of prayer.  Help me to make staying connected to you an important part of our lives.  We pray this day for all students and school staff as they face a new school year;  through Christ our Lord.   Amen.