When my wife Kathy and I were on sabbatical, we spent most of that time away from home and even away from civilization. We hooked our RV to our truck and stayed in remote places, where we became recharged in the peacefulness around us. But we also found a newfound appreciation for being part of a community and part of civilization.

This appreciation came when we realized we had a problem with the hitch for our RV. We ordered the part to fix it and learned we had to wait several days to pick it up. We should have stayed where we were, but we happened to be parked close to the National Forest outhouses. With that, we decided to move anyway, even with the broken hitch.

While on the road, our RV got disconnected to our truck. And with forest all around us, it was impossible to use our phones to get help. We were isolated, disconnected and stuck in the middle of a road.

Being in this situation helped me remember that isolating and disconnecting ourselves from others can make us stuck, especially when making connections is at the core of Jesus’ mission for us.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus told His disciples to “go and make disciples of all the nations.” When Jesus told His disciples to “go,” he was telling them to engage and to connect with those they reached, just as He had. In fact, Jesus’ most notable connections were with people far from God, like adulterers and tax collectors.

As followers of Jesus, it’s easy for us to become disconnected to those around us, especially when we believe they will bring us farther from God. But the truth is that they need to be closer to Him and when we help them come closer, the Holy Spirit ensures that God is still with us (see Acts 1:8).

This week, I encourage you to think about how you can better connect with those around you who are far from God. If you missed my talk about how to make these connections, I also encourage you to check it out.

In Christ,

Jeff