Signal or no signal?

Today I went to my Beth Moore Study, "A Woman's Heart", with which I am enraptured. Beth is the real deal. She speaks truth into my soul, and I am moved to tears and belief, sitting there nodding my head in agreement and Amening her all over the place.

For those of you who have attended her studies, you know how connected she is--to the Lord and to her audience. I started pondering the importance of being connected--to my God to my husband, to my family, to my friends. You and I know well how sometimes that connection falls through the cracks, maybe because the busyness of living the life that is right in front of us leaves little or no time to keep that level of connectedness we like to maintain. Or, we are so squeezed out and wrung dry at the end of the day, there is little energy to make the effort to keep the communication lines flowing freely.

As far as maintaining a consistent free flow with the Lord, it's better if we do that when the day is still before us. I am sure that is why David said, "Early will I seek you." All too soon, if He is not the first objective of the day after we put our feet on the floor, other demands storm into our lives and the hours slip away without having soaked in His presence, allowing that time to transform us, renew our minds, and enable us to walk away in His refuge for the remainder of that day. Bypassing Him at the start of the day means we are taking risks. We can walk in the flesh. We can fail to be open to His presence. We can miss hearing the voice that says, "This is the way; walk in it." The day then is left in our own hands and is not really His to command. We can forfeit the blessings He so wanted to bring into our path. We can lose our signal.

Digressing now. . . the Laban Mission Campus in Congo is located 450 miles due east of the capital city of Kinshasa, in what is commonly referred to as the "bush." We are out in the boonies surrounded by savannah, small forests, some jungle, rolling hills, and plains; in other words, it's Hicksville. The location of the bush does not mean that we are isolated from people. Thousands of people live there. However, there is definite isolation from technology. Few technical perks are to be had by living in the bush. I'm thinking hard right now to come up with any. For instance, there is no electricity unless you have your own diesel or gas generator. (Talk about signals!) There is no running water provided unless you are the provider. And worst of all, there is NO INTERNET!, at least not where we are. So, living for the average national is similar to Little House on the Prairie days.


BUT, BUT, BUT, we have this incredible 300' RADIO TOWER AND STUDIO that the Lord provided through wonderful Christians in America. The tower was erected by our great friends and fellow colleagues in Indiana, Towers for Jesus. Each day, up to 8 million people (not including their children; children don't pay taxes in Congo, so they are not counted in any census) can tune in Radio Glory at 89.0 on the FM dial and hear Bible teaching, Christian music, hygiene, Christian Family Living, anyone of the books of the Bible being read, questions and answers about the Christian faith, team teaching between pastors, noted American authors and pastors (tapes we have taken over there, of course), announcements, and local church services who boast amazing musical chorales.

You might be thinking, "Where in the world do they get radios from?" They can either buy them in the city of Kikwit, 60 miles away or in Kinshasa. Those who do own radios set them outside (battery operated, mind you) in their village in the mornings, and people gather around who may not own one to listen to Selah opening the day in song and the Word of God being preached and taught. It is an awesome sight to behold. The broadcasts start at 5 a.m. and run until 10, and they resume at 4:30 p.m. and end at 9:30 p.m., provided there is fuel. Our radio station comes alive only when it is connected to a generator.

Since its inception, Radio Glory has gone through some tough times. The first transmitter was defective, sent back to the U. S., driven all the way to Texas by Jim and Connie Hulse of Towers for Jesus, repaired, and taken back to Congo by Jim Hulse. He lovingly and tediously hand packed the transmitter so it could make the 16 hour trip on Air France without a hitch. But in France the trunk containing the transmitter was broken into, and parts were slashed and pounded and ruined. A new transmitter was provided by generous souls in America in 2006.

During the time when we had either transmitter or generator problems of various sorts, the radio lost its signal. The people had no connection with this life-giving source of hope. That meant that millions of people who looked to Radio Glory each day for spiritual sustenance because Bibles are not plentiful in Congo, or perhaps they had no church to attend in their village, or maybe they were not gifted with a pastor, returned to what they had before--hopelessness, despair, and depression. The Lord's blessing and presence was so real through Radio Glory, and they missed the broadcasts so much, that they began to cry out after 3 days, "What has happened to our mama? We are sick without our mama. When will she return?" I am happy to tell you, the signal is back and free-flowing encouragement fills the air waves 7 days a week from Radio Glory these days. Mama's soothing voice is going strong! Praise God!

Being connected makes all the difference in the world. The Lord makes that ability to be connected so possible through His Word. The Holy Spirit runs on the railroad tracks of the Bible. We have these eternal, vibrant, breathing words of God that have been preserved for more than 2000 years at our disposal. Scripture has everything profitable for life in it! When we avail ourselves to The Book, the signal is strong. The potential is unlimited. The power in our lives can be awakened and explode because the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead is ours!

Conversely, when we avoid making God's Word a part of everyday living, we begin to die spiritually. We dry up. We wither on the vine. Joy flees. The signal is gone.

It's our choice. Remember Malachi 3:16. At the end of the day, it is not our check list of finite "things to do" that the Lord necessarily takes note of . It's our passion for Him, our putting Him on top of our list of priorities. It's our effort to keep the signal connected between Him and us, to have a free flow of communication. It's the sacrifice of praise (cause we just don't wanna give Him praise sometimes) that causes Him to inhabit those praises, turn our mindset from ourselves and our woes to his wonder, fill us with awe, and walk with a lighter step.

Have you checked your signal lately?