Tapping Into The Source

Kevon drove up to the school and parked in front of the building so he could quickly run to the door and pick-up his 6-year-old nephew, Dennison, by 3pm.  His brother had sent him at the last minute since he was stuck in a meeting and wouldn’t be able to get his son.  Kevon told him, “No problem,” since he hadn’t spent time with his nephew in a while and it would give him a chance to find out how school was going with the boy. 

The dismissal attendant released the child to his uncle once he identified himself, on schedule. But imagine her surprise when she made her way to her car 45-minutes later and was asked by the man if she could give his car a jump because it wouldn’t start. Sitting in the backseat was Dennison.  “Hi!,” the child exclaimed. How could she say no to the uncle of the little boy who’d been at school all day and was anxiously waiting to get home. “Do you have cables,” she asked? “I do,” Kevon replied. 

The woman pulled her vehicle alongside the stalled car, close enough for the cables to reach from her battery to his. A school custodian had been watching nearby and eventually came over to help. “Do you have heavier cables?” he asked Kevon. The uncle said he did not. “Well, then they will have to do,” the custodian said matter-of-factly.   After raising both hoods, a connection was made from her power source to the opposite end of the cables attached to his battery. She started her car, giving it a little gas to increase the flow of electricity going through the cables. After some adjustment of the connections, a complete circuit was formed and the weakened battery in Kevon’s car started up. Grateful, the man thanked both the lady and the custodian for their help and drove off with his nephew happily in tow.

Similarly, when Jesus went to the garden in Gethsemane, he went to connect to His power source, the Heavenly Father.  Although he took along Peter and two other disciples, his primary purpose was one thing: to connect to the power source He would need to withstand what was about to happen to the human side of Him. And what would be Jesus’s jumper cables? The same as ours – Prayer. Three times Jesus went back to His disciples and asked them to watch his back and pray, while He went to pray to His father in heaven. Jesus understood that not only would He need the power from His father to endure the suffering to come, but that He needed to make that connection with the Father for us; so that when we pray to God, Jesus would be our “jumper cables” through which the eternal connection would be made. And, we would be “in the Father” because Jesus was in us, making the connection one… a completed circuit through which all life on earth and in heaven is given.  

Thank You, Jesus, for being our jumper cables; for being the connection to the heavenly Father, the source of all power–our strength.  Through prayer, we are able to connect to you, especially when we are weak.  By praying to you we can connect to “Our Father who art in heaven.”  The example you set in the Garden of Gethsemane showed us how we must find that quiet space and place to tap into you and connect to the source of all our strength and help– in good times and in trouble.  Through earnest prayer, we will hear from you and the Father via the other cable connection, the Holy Spirit. Be with us Jesus as we lean not on our understanding, but learn to wait for acknowledgement from you and you will show us where to go and what to do.  Have mercy on us Lord when we are impatient and try to operate out of our own strength and have limited success or fail altogether.  Help us to remember that through YOU all things are possible, if it is according to your will for our lives. We thank you, Jesus, for the sacrifice you made upon the cross that allows us to be redeemed, in spite of ourselves, if we believe in you because you love us just as the Father loved You.  We thank you and humbly give you all glory and honor, in Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.