Off the Grid

I have special, secret phone app so I can stay in contact with Zach while he is stationed in the Philippines. It's not some military issued communication app designed to protect state secrets. It's an app Zach found because he's tired of being deployed to different areas where he has to change his phone service and therefore get a new phone number. With this new app there was no break in communication with home. He just needs to be in a place where he has wifi and it works. I'm glad he found it.

Last summer when Moira and I went to Haiti, there was no way to communicate with home through a cell phone. If you were on the mission campus you could use their wifi to email or other method, but a text or phone call was out of the question. It felt very isolated.

Now, there are times I don't mind going "off the grid." It's nice to be somewhere no one can find you. Disappear for a bit. Get a little peace and quiet. However, I am glad that I am never away from God's "grid."

"Hear my cry, O God;

listen to my prayer.

From the ends of the earth I call to you"

--Psalm 61:1-2

There is nowhere I can go where I am away from God's listening ear and watchful eyes. He is always near and always watching and listening. "From the ends of the earth" He can hear me. That is important for me to remember as I send my son to the "ends of the earth", as I send children back to college, and as they marry and move away from home. God goes with them where I cannot.

In these socially distant times, remember that God is never distant. He is right there wherever you or your loved ones are. He is always listening. There is nowhere that is beyond His hearing.

Doug