You.

I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit apart from me. You can do nothing. If a man does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. John 15 verses five and six I ran off on a quick errand the other day and upon entering the store, realized that I didn't have have my phone with me. My first reaction was panic. Had I left it in the car? If so, someone probably already broke my window and stole it. Or maybe I had accidentally dropped it in my mad rush to get into the store. Would I have time to quickly retrace my steps and find it before some hoodlum snatched it up and took it without so much as a thought about finding the rightful owner? Even if no one took it, it had probably landed in a huge puddle of water and would be ruined beyond repair. I literally started running what must have been a good mile back to where I had parked my car, scolding myself for parking out in the boondocks just to narrow the risk of having someone park his car next to mine and then denting the side of my car when he carelessly slammed his door into mine when getting out. I was maybe halfway back to the car when I remembered that I had set my phone down on the end table at home while reading earlier in the morning and had simply forgotten to pick it up on the way out the door, just to be sure. However, I thought I should call my wife to ask her to check. Of course, that's a little hard to do when you don't have your phone with you. The errand only took about half the time it would normally take because I felt so out of place and vulnerable without my phone. It's almost like I was convinced that I needed my phone with me in order to breathe, but at the very least, I felt uneasy and vulnerable without my phone. You may be laughing at me right now, but the truth is that most of you are just as attached to your phone. In our modern world, with so many things happening around us at any given moment, carrying a phone is almost a necessity. The phone provides a sense of security we would not have otherwise, and the phone keeps us connected to others in the world around us. Knowing this to be true, why do so many people fail to see the necessity of staying connected to our lord and savior? As surely as we become physically vulnerable without the connections we have through our phones, we become spiritually vulnerable when we don't stay connected to divine who gives us life. The truth is, we should be just as panicked about missing Sunday worship and daily devotions and prayer time as we are about going somewhere without our phones.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to [email protected] have a great day, and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day. Day.