JPS

Just about all of us travel with phones, tablets, laptops, or some form of electronic device. It has become a way of life. We read on them, talk on them, and watch movies on them. But we mostly use them to communicate by speech or text. Years ago I was stuck in the Washington Dulles International airport for hours. I was trying to call the airline because the customer-service counter had extremely long lines, and I needed to contact my family. This was all on a phone whose battery was close to dying. I looked on every concourse, eating establishment, and waiting area to find a plug outlet. Could I find one, even one? Of course not!

For the Dulles airport to be in the nation’s capital, it sure seemed antique and outdated. I even looked for a payphone. Maybe they had an old rotary-dial phone to borrow or phone booth to use. Remember those? I felt like I’d stepped back into the past, and a time machine was due to pick me up any minute. Then I saw it—the time machine! Or was it? There seemed to be hundreds of people getting on these spaceship-like things to get across to the other side. Oh my! What was on the other side?

After thinking about it, I wasn’t about to get on those strange devices. People getting on them never seemed to return. I thought of my family never seeing me again. Some days they might entertain that idea, but today, I think they liked me okay. I’d been visiting a friend and had been gone for the week.

So, anyway, returning to the spaceship things. I backed away and avoided the force that was pulling me in to join the others. I went searching for an outlet again. I then realized that the powers that be at the airport did not want me to contact anyone on the outside. That’s why they didn’t provide outlets to charge my phone; they wanted to prevent communication with the outside!

All fun aside, communication is truly the key to maintaining healthy relationships with our kids, siblings, friends, coworkers, spouses, or significant others. One person not getting a message can ruin the whole day. Your sick call not getting to your boss could be bad. You send an “I love you” text to your spouse or significant other, and it goes to your ex-boss. Oops!

Getting the communication to the right source is vital. During all the hustle and bustle of the day, how do we maintain that communication and keep that battery charged? Evidently not by being at the Dulles airport. We have that outlet with us all the time. It’s our own personal charger. It’s Jesus Christ. Our Jesus Positioning System. We just plug into prayer, worship, and quiet time. Then we’re charged and ready to go about our day. There is no need to look for energizing in other ways. Yet we seem to look for those. Why, when it’s so easy to talk to the Lord? It almost seems too easy, huh?

In Romans 1:16, the Bible talks about God’s power. It states, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes.” You see, we have the power of God within us. For everyone who believes and taps into this outlet of the Lord, charge up! Utilize your JPS—Jesus Positioning System—in prayer, and may the Lord bless you.

1. Has your personal battery ever felt uncharged?


2. Where did you end up getting your charge, or did you?


3. How often do you turn to other methods of charging?


4. What things give you an immediate charge?


5. What is the only way to charge your spiritual battery?

Give examples of ways you charge up your batteries each and every day. Journal them.