The Source

I had gone over to my parents house this weekend to look at a problem they were having with their wireless network. I had installed it a few weeks earlier, and Mom reported that all of a sudden, it had quit working.

I was able to isolate the initial problem fairly quickly, but for the life of me, I could not get it up and running. The cable modem was working fine, and after resetting, it was broadcasting "online" and the router seemed fine. I just could not continue the connection to the world wide web.

Stumped, I decided to take a break and start another project for my Mom: getting her Wii console fixed. My mom had shocked us all by purchasing the gaming system a few weeks back, but for the kids, it made Nana's home even more welcome.

While looking for the Wii serial number, I noticed that my parents were now on DirecTV. Impressive, I thought.

It wasn't till later that the answer to my initial problem jumped at me. I called my Mom.

"Mom... when did this problem start?"
"In December" she answered.
"Well, when did you cancel cable and go to DTV?" I queried.
There was a pause. "In December."

Voila! Problem solved! The folks had cut off cable. There was no internet source.

The teaching moments are analogies are plentiful for every facet of ministry, personal and church. Basically, it can boil down to asking, particularly in lean times: what is your Source? Is it constantly refreshed? Is there something blocking it?