**Signal Lost**

Remember when this little guy would pop up on the TV screen? By the time I was old enough to realize what was going on on the tube, this was not as prevalent, but a nuisance nonetheless. 

Growing up in the country, we didn’t have satellite or cable. Our stations came over the air, from the translator in Childress. We had a whopping six stations: the big three, Fox, PBS and a wildcard station that varied with the mood of the translator operator. 

You always hoped and prayed those two weeks out of the year when the operator went on vacation that they remembered to keep the tower on. If not, us country folk watched static for seven to 10 days. 

When that happened, it was a crippling feeling. I mean, television was our lifeline to the outside world. Don’t get me wrong, we played outside A TON, but nothing replaced Saturday morning cartoons or weekday afternoon cartoons following a hard day at school. 

Sometimes we would lose signal, not because the operator wasn’t there, but because our antenna got blown a different direction. (It sucked going out to tune that thing. Yelling at your brother to make sure it was right, ugh!)

I was just thinking that we have a lot in common with that antenna than we think. We have a connection with God through His Son, Jesus. It’s not a physical connection, but a spiritual one. Kinda like those signals beaming to out antenna. 

There are times where our signal is clear, which is due to consistant communication, prayer, worship and reading the Word. We are getting what we need and things are all good.

Jeremiah 33:3 says that when we call into Him, He’s gonna show us great and mighty things that we don’t know anything about. You think you’ll get that without being tuned into Him?

But there’s a flip side to this. We tend to lose our signal with God. That could be through complacency, temptation or just flat out walking away to do our own thing. 

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

James 1:14-16 ESV

You see, that solution to keeping that signal a strong one is simple enough on paper, but we don’t live life on paper. We war with our flesh, the words of our peers, etc. 

I know sometimes it seems like your prayers don’t get any higher than the ceiling. That your signal to the Lord is so weak that you just about give up any and all of the things that once made your relationship so strong. Look at this verse:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4 ESV

As these temptations come, and they will, we should not let them affect our signal or communication with our Creator. According to the verse above, we should be steadfast in our faith and our stance with Him. 

For more on this topic, drop some comments below. I would love to hear what you think. Y’all be safe out there.