The source matters...

I have a power outlet in the garage right behind where I have placed a small freezer to assist in storing meats and extra items I buy up on sale.  It is in a very convenient place, at a very convenient height (don't even have to bend down to plug in), and it is clearly recognizable as a power source.  Shortly after moving into this house some years back, I placed the freezer there.  It wasn't until one day, late after work that I came to realize an issue with the power source.  I did not realize it was connected to the GFCI plug in my bathroom. As we made our way through getting ready in the morning, it was not uncommon to trip the GFCI with the plugging in of hairdryers, curling irons, etc.  We just hit the little red button and reset the thing, moving on with our morning grooming tasks.  Unrealized, we had inadvertently tripped it at the end of our morning process, not bothering to reset the thing because we were all done in the bathroom and it didn't matter.  At least we thought it didn't matter.  I live in Arizona, so one day of lost power to a freezer in a garage in the hot summer heat is not a good thing to come home to!  To make matters worse, I didn't recognize it the first day!  That meat sat about 36 hours undiscovered, thawing, turning very bad, and then just being a total chore to clean up!  Needless to say, the freezer was moved to another source of power in the garage clearly off the "interrupted" power pathway! In life, we sometimes don't recognize the source of our power has been interrupted until we begin to see the results of the damage done when we are not correctly connected!

I love You, Eternal One, source of my power. The Eternal is my rock, my fortress, and my salvation; He is my True God, the stronghold in which I hide, my strong shield, the horn that calls forth help, and my tall-walled tower. 

(Psalm 18:1-2 VOICE)

When David says God is his source of power, he means it! He is acknowledging him as his ultimate authority in life. The source of our power is indeed the ultimate authority because when that power is interrupted, all manner of mess can evolve in the course of time.  The source of anything is the "author" of that thing - it is because of the one being "tapped into" that the thing even exists or takes form.  When we tap into the right source, the thing produced in our lives is much more reliable than when we tap into sources which might just serve to appear trustworthy on the surface, but have some "tripping points" underneath we may not even realize!

The source of our power will definitely be the determining "force" in our lives which will impact the desired outcome. As I look back at my life, I have truly observed times when I was closely connected to the source of God's power, then those times when I seemed to have "pulled the plug slightly from the outlet", allowing for an interruption of that "source".  The impact was significant - leaving a lot of rotten mess in my life which had to be cleaned up!  Have you ever smelt rotten meat left in a freezer in the heat?  Let me just tell you this - the smell lasts a lot longer than you might imagine.  I removed all the signs of "bad meat" in the freezer that day, but the smell left behind was there for weeks!  I could not use the freezer until I took on the task of ridding the freezer of the odor!  The interruption of a reliable power source in our lives may not just cause us visible damage (rotten meat), but it may leave behind a "stench" in our lives which takes a while to "undo"!  

Any source can be sought in a storm - we go to the battery powered flashlight when the storm takes out the electricity. Yet, in the course of the continued storm, what we find is this source must constantly be renewed (the batteries have to be changed).  It isn't renewable!  It is replaceable, but it isn't renewable unless there is those batteries are rechargeable; and then only when there is a reliable power source behind that recharging device to actually "return" energy to the depleted cells.  The problem with replaceable power is that it will eventually cost us more than we might have wanted to spend in the first place!  The problem with rechargeable power is that it needs another source other than what it offers itself to be fully functional in the long run.  If you are relying upon what you think is replaceable, be prepared for the cost! If you are leaning on what you think will be renewable, just remember you have to be connected to the source which has no interruption to truly call that source of power "reliable"!

To date, I have found only one source of power which is truly uninterrupted - it is that which originates in the source of all power - God himself!  I can tell you for a fact, to be tapped into any other power source in your life is to run the risk of interruptions in that power, or inadequate power to make it through the storm!  Get "plugged in".  That connection makes the difference between a whole lot of mess to clean up and can help you ride out any storm you will face in this lifetime! Just sayin!