We haven’t had heat at our house for a year.

Well, not furnace heat.  –We’ve been using space heaters.  But, as you’re probably aware, that’s not the same thing.

We’ve just been getting by without it.  But with the KC winter intensifying, my wife thought it’d be a good idea to get this fixed, particularly so our pipes don’t freeze and we get another bill, bill, bill.

I agreed.

Well as it would turn out, over the past two weeks, I’ve also begun working from home.  And in order to work from home, we’ve needed a landline installed.

So … take me back two decades + tack on another service visit = Ben is a stressed out camper.

Fast forward — AT&T is in our house installing the line.  It’s already being accomplished later than planned… so things are just getting better and better…

Suddenly–Light breaks in.

“You having problems with your heater?,” John from AT&T says.

As I proceeded to give him a nutshell of our chilled history, he’s already on his way over to the unit.

Long story short, by the time I stopped at Target for a phone and got back (a nine-minute total-trip),

John from AT&T had completely fixed our furnace.

“The orpheus on the pilot tube was clogged,” he said.

I knew that.

Well, partially…

What I DID know was that in the days prior, when my friend David and I would try to light that very same pilot tube — it wouldn’t light, and the furnace wouldn’t reactivate.

And this “clogging” was the reason.

Later, as I was emailing my wife at work about this crazy breakthrough with our “phone guy fixing our furnace” (a legitimate and downright miracle), –I began reflecting on my own view of God, that seems to cut out often, like this furnace.

If you know me, you know that I grew up in church and knew everything there is to know about living “that life.”

But about 10 years ago, I began recovering from a different type of “cardinal sin” … religion.

I began to see that God had made his decision to love and fulfill me–way before I made my decision to try and appease Him.  That, in Jesus, God’s aim was to take me past religion, past fear, in order to give me the life of acceptance, security, identity and purpose that I had been looking for all along.

Through Jesus’ finished work on the cross, God has saved me from sin (that just hurts me, anyway), and has also saved me FOR sonship–a relationship with him that allows me to experience this life of fulfillment, as I follow Jesus.

Why am I mentioning this?  Sometimes, I forget it.

Sometimes, I get so “clogged” with everything else talking and making noise around me, that I forget the goodness of God.  I forget that I’m valuable to Him (Matthew 6:26).  I forget that He said that He will never leave or forsake me.

And that as I, and as you my reader, make this decision to receive this free gift of Jesus, no one will ever be able to take us from our heavenly Father’s hand (John 10:27-29).  You can trust Him to lead you through the seasons of your life.  You can trust that He’s good.

You see, the clogging had nothing to do with the quality of my furnace.  It had just been in our basement for a while.  The clogging was just a natural consequence of it living down there.  Just because you have times of doubt and unbelief, doesn’t mean God’s not enough to bring warmth and fulfillment to your life–now.  He knew you before you were in your mother’s womb, He sees your flaws, and at the same time, He sees your life as meaningful, and can do something with it, because he began it (Psalm 139:13,14).

If you’re reading this, and you haven’t received the gift of Jesus, receive him now.

Just say, “God, I acknowledge that I’m a sinner, but I receive forgiveness of my sin.  I believe Jesus has given me perfect standing with you, a life worth living, the life I was designed to live.  I choose to follow Jesus today.  Give me what I need to stay passionate for you, and follow close to you.  In Jesus’ name, amen.”

If you’re reading this, and your heart feels “clogged,” where your faith won’t work or is feeling cold, I encourage you to pray this prayer.

“Jesus, take me past religion, to encounter you, for who you are.  I believe you’re able to be trusted with those things I’ve kept to myself, those things I’ve let speak to me, louder than I’ve let you speak.  I declare that You’re enough.  I receive your love over my life today, in every way.  Amen.”

God bless you guys,

Ben