Once a while in the morning rush hour, many things would occupy me. Under such condition, I would tend to be absent-minded and as a result, left the power strip for my laptop computer behind. The trouble is not until I enter my office and pull out the laptop from my backpack the very first time, I then realize that I’ve forgot the power strip at home. The remedy is I need to make a special trip back before the laptop would cry out “Critical battery condition, 10% power is available!” Incidentally, in the past week, I had to make such trips twice! Sigh…. What a drag for a new year!

Looking at the power strip of my laptop, I figure it could serve three purposes. The first one is it can provide enough power (juice) to start up the computer, if there is no backup battery installed. The second one is it can convert incoming AC power to DC power and “regulates” it to a correct voltage level that the computer can function properly. The last one is it can be used to charge the installed backup battery, if any, in the computer at the same time. Without the power strip, the laptop would soon run out of juice and render it to be useless, even there is a backup battery installed. Therefore, to maintain a laptop to function properly for an extended period, it would need a good power strip, or a “properly charged” backup battery.

As we are so depending on computers and electronics in our daily life, the lack of power source is becoming intolerable to most of us. If we view our faith journey, questions come to my mind immediately are “Where is the source of power for our journey of faith? Have we been properly charged by that source in order to ‘function’ properly?” If we recall, the very first source of power to the humankind is God’s breath of life when God created Adam (Genesis 2:7). Adam, as a living being, can communicate with God and work and take care of the Garden of Eden – Adam is fully functional with God’s breath of life, the infinite source of power. However, when Adam decided to act upon his own freewill to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his connection to God’s breath of life is unavoidably broken, because God has said, “When you eat from it you will certainly die. (Genesis 2:17b).”

When we came to know Jesus personally and accepted Him as our personal Savior, the connection to God is once again ‘restored’.  The author of the book of Hebrews said it is a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body. (Hebrews 10:20). The questions are “Do we realize the importance of the connection, and, do we use the connection to properly charge ourselves?”

“The vine and the branches” parable recorded in the Gospel John is a lesson for us to learn the importance of tapping into God’s infinite source of power through the connection. Jesus told His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 我是葡萄樹，你們是枝子‧常在我裡面的，我也常在他裡面，這人就多結果子‧因為離了我，你們就不能作什麼‧人若不常在我裡面，就像枝子丟在外面枯乾，人拾起來，扔在火裡燒了‧(John 15:5-6)” This is a lesson that is critical to us and the evil one has attempted viciously to sway us from it.  Thus, we need to be alert and constantly ask ourselves, “Have I attached to Him today? Do I have sins and spiritual pride that could prevent me from receiving God’s charging?”

If Lord is willing, may the sharing here could benefit you…..