8th June 2026: Dringhouses, York
Lost Connection? Maybe you’re in the wrong place!
I recently spent some time on a campsite in the East Midlands which, unusually for the UK, has no mobile data connection at all. They did offer a WiFi option, but even that was very weak and unreliable. I was only there for a couple of days, but the experience was rather disorientating. Suddenly and unexpectedly, no access to email. No access to my usual podcasts or news channels. No updates on the family WhatsApp group. No access to my bank account, my website or social media. It all felt very strange.
The far reaching power of the internet and digital media has become so much part of my life that suddenly losing access felt strangely disorientating. The sense of isolation came out of nowhere. It was something I rarely experience.
What, I wondered, if I arrived at a place where I was suddenly and unexpectedly unable to get in touch with God? What if I suddenly felt like my prayers weren’t going anywhere? What if the assurance of the presence of Jesus suddenly wasn’t there? What if I needed the touch of the Holy Spirit, but nothing happened?
Then I realised that during my few days in the East Midlands, the internet was still there, somewhere. Actually, it was out there, pretty much everywhere. Just not where I was. I couldn’t connect because I was in the wrong place.
There’s something in that which somehow reflects my own connection to God. There are times when I feel like I can’t connect with Him. Times when I struggle to see Jesus. Times when I don’t feel like I’m experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit. Life does that sometimes. More often than we’d like. What’s going on at moments like that?
The fact that I can’t connect with Him is not because He’s not there. He’s still there. He hasn’t gone anywhere. He hasn’t moved. I have.
You may feel disconnected from God. You may be in a place where you doubt that the connection is even possible. My experience is that it’s just possible that physically or emotionally you’re in the wrong place. Like a child who can’t see their mother standing next to them because they are facing the wrong direction.
However far away you feel, the God whose power and authority is way higher than the internet will ever be, is always there, much closer than you think.
7Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.