Yesterday, on my day off, I spent some time playing “network administrator” for our home wi-fi network. (I like to give myself fancy titles for jobs I really hate.) It’s sort of amazing that ten years ago I’m not sure I knew what a home network was, and now our home ceases to function when the network isn’t “working”. (For you geeky types: right now we have two TiVo’s, Two Laptops, Two Printers, a couple of iPhones, an alarm system, a Wii…and I think the coffeemaker…on our home network)
I don’t know much about fixing network problems. But when your TiVo refuses to transfer last week’s Phineas and Ferb movie, and your main network printer refuses to recognize your computer- action has to be taken…solutions have to be found…disaster has to be averted. :-)
I googled for fixes and patches. I scoured drop down menus and prompts, and in the end I did the one thing I actually know how to do that works- I shut EVERYTHING down and restarted the network. Everything had to go off-line…everything had to go quiet…so that when it came back online it would communicate as it was intended.
As I celebrated “fixing” our network, and as peace was restored among all the wi-fi enabled devices in the Record home, I was reminded of prayer. I was reminded that when things seem “off” in my world…it’s usually because I’m no longer properly communicating with my creator. When my “network” is no longer “working”, it usually means I need to do exactly what I sometimes have to do to my home network. Shut down—-Reboot—-Reconnect.
Jesus did it when he left the needy crowds and headed to the mountaintops for long periods of prayer with his Father. I do it when my two favorite sins (arrogance and ignorance) begin to cause breakdowns in my communication with others.
When do you Shut down—Reboot—and Reconnect through prayer? How is your “network”?
12 One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. Luke 6:12 (NLT)