One of my best friends worked for a company that made nothing, but earned millions in profits every year.

I know. That’s the kind of world we live in. But I am personally thankful for the work they and companies like them do because their work saved my life. I have had four bypasses, three stents, multiple angiograms to count, too many days in the hospital, etc.

Andy worked for a company who worked with hospitals to ensure their equipment were functioning within acceptable tolerance. The equipment and the machines our doctors use must operate within an extremely tight window of acceptable tolerance. The equipment is only useful if the readings are reading correctly. If the readings are off then the equipment is not only useless, it is dangerous.

Andy’s company made sure that the equipment used in hospitals and by doctors were operating within acceptable tolerance.

Isn’t it interesting that through regular use, and with time, equipment drifts. And very rarely does it drift toward perfection. It always drifts further from acceptable tolerance.

Equipment needs regular recalibrating. The same goes with us.

Our focus, perspective, hopes, goals, dreams tend to drift away from God’s best for us. In time, we forget God.

Regular worship is our weekly recalibration. We need it because we drift. We get further away from acceptable tolerance and worship brings us back.

So, when’s the last time you’ve been in God’s house to worship God? Isn’t it time for a recalibration?

Life happens.

Sometimes, it becomes necessary to find a new church home. For most, this is a painful and difficult process. Leaving a people and place you’ve called home is both painful and hard. Most only leave their church home because they feel they have no other choice.

Should you ever find yourself in such a situation, here are two things to avoid at all cost:

1. Avoid speaking badly of your former church
2. Avoid speaking badly of your former pastor.

As a pastor, when I meet people who are visiting the Little Church on the Prairie from other churches, and they begin telling me about their terrible experiences with their former pastor and congregation, I want to run for the hills. It literally makes my skin crawl.

Talking badly about your former congregation and your former pastor physically and emotionally hurts pastors.

You see, most pastors love the congregation they serve. They have a great concern and a great love for their people. And pastors serve congregations because they are called and they love their calling. So when you start bad-mouthing your former congregation, pastors who love their people, cannot help but take that personally.

And when you start bad-mouthing your former pastor, I can’t help but think – “That’s going to me. This is what they will be saying about me when they get upset with me.”

Both of these are cringeworthy.

I get it. Life happens and sometimes you have to find a new church home. And should that ever happen, do yourself and your new place a favor: please don’t bad mouth your former church or pastor.

If you’re a professional driver, drifting is both incredibly cool and amazing to watch.

Most other contexts, drifting is not cool.

The thing I find interesting about drift in life is that in life drift never drifts toward good or our intended goal.

Most people’s new year’s resolution includes getting back into shape. And the plan works great for a few days or even weeks. And then the temptation to drift enters. And when drift happens, drift never leads us to the gym or to the track. Drift always leads to the couch.

We decide we need to eat a healthier diet. That’s a great plan. We all should. And things go well for a few weeks, but then the temptation to drift enters. And again, when drift happens, it never leads to more carrots and celery sticks. It usually looks like a cheeseburger and fries and a milkshake, and pizza, and ice cream. I know. I’ve been there and done that. All in one sitting!

Same thing with relationships with our loved ones, our friends. This also applies to our spiritual walk with God. When drift occurs, drift never takes us closer to God.

Here’s the thing about drift. Drift happens. So don’t feel bad when drift happens.

The key is not that drift happens, but that you get back on the plan and correct the drift….get the drift? The thing that determines whether we achieve our goals is not that drift happens but what you do once you drift. The ones that succeed get back on track, get back to healthy habits, get back to the things that lead to health. And the ones that don’t succeed…well…they’re still drifting.

Don’t feel bad that drift happens. When drift happens, get back with the program.

Growth, maturity, health is a journey. On this journey, drift will happen. The key to getting to our goal is that when drift occurs, we get back on the program and stay the course.

Get the drift?