{"id":951,"date":"2014-07-08T07:47:53","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T11:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/?p=951"},"modified":"2014-07-08T10:01:27","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T14:01:27","slug":"god-and-the-power-pivot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html","title":{"rendered":"God and the Power Pivot"},"content":{"rendered":"

God and the Power Pivot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
God and the Power Pivot: The Pivot may provide the power; but the power is not the Pivot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maybe you’ve seen this new gadget marketed by Quirky as the Power Pivot. It has become wildly popular. This one is now in our home and it is providing power to multiple products all from its resting place under Pam\u2019s side of the bed.<\/p>\n

Pam has become quite the techy one in our family. She has more electronic devices than some people have credit cards. To keep all of them charged simultaneously, however, she has discovered the traditional straight power strip just does not work.<\/p>\n

The Power Pivot, however, does. Instead of the single strip that limits the number of devices you can connect at one time, the Power Pivot is flexible, allowing for several devices to be connected all at once.<\/p>\n

Given how I’m wired, I could not help but see the spiritual parallels.<\/p>\n

God and the Power Pivot…<\/span><\/h2>\n

We all search for a power source, do we not? It is the nature of the human experience. The famous passage from The Confessions of Augustine<\/em> <\/a>goes like this: \u201cYou have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout all of human history, one can find a kind of restlessness in search of a Divine connection.<\/p>\n

God and the Power Pivot have many names.<\/span><\/h2>\n

What the Power Pivot does is no different than what the traditional Power Strip does. They both provide a connecting point to the source of power. They just have different names and shapes.<\/p>\n

It’s the same with God, isn’t it? Zeus to Greeks; Brahman to Hindus; Allah to Muslims; Yahweh to Jews; and, Jesus to Christians. And, these are but a drop in the proverbial bucket of Divine names.<\/p>\n

The mistake almost all people have made throughout history, and still make today, is to confuse the power strip for the power source, the pivot for the person. Whenever this occurs, and it does so in almost every religion, followers wind up arguing for the strip instead of worshiping the source. Protecting their religion becomes more important than connecting to its Source. Doesn’t this explain much of the violence in the news? Much of the widespread departure from organized religion<\/a>\u00a0as well? People are tired of this confusion. People are weary of the war waged almost universally between people of varying religions.<\/p>\n

To young Timothy, Saint Paul warned, “Do not hold to a form of godliness, but miss the power source behind it\u201d (2 Timothy 3:5).<\/p>\n

Whenever you feel threatened and defensive about your religion, haven’t you made this error already?<\/p>\n

Haven’t you confused the pivot for the Person? Or, holding to “form of godliness, but missing the God behind it?”<\/p>\n

The Buddha said, \u201cThe finger that points to the moon is not the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, as we might put it here: The pivot that provides the power is not the power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God and the Power Pivot. Maybe you’ve seen this new gadget marketed by Quirky as the Power Pivot. It has become wildly popular. This one is now in our home and it is providing power to multiple products all from its resting place under Pam\u2019s side of the bed. Pam has become quite the techy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":551,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1662,1664,423,1666,1658,1667,1655,1669,1653,1654,1665,1659,806,1660,1668,1657,1656,1663,1661],"class_list":["post-951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spirituality","tag-allah-to-muslims","tag-brahman-to-hindus","tag-buddha","tag-but-a-drop-in-the-proverbial-bucket-of-divine-names","tag-confessions-of-augustine","tag-confuse-the-power-strip-for-the-power-source","tag-electronic-devices","tag-feel-threatened-and-defensive-about-your-religion","tag-god-and-the-power-pivot","tag-it-has-become-wildly-popular","tag-jesus-to-christians","tag-saint-augustine","tag-saint-paul","tag-the-finger-that-points-to-the-moon","tag-the-pivot-for-the-person","tag-the-power-pivot","tag-traditional-power-strip","tag-yahweh-to-jews","tag-young-timothy"],"yoast_head":"\nGod and the Power Pivot - Your Best Life Now<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God and the Power Pivot - Your Best Life Now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"God and the Power Pivot. Maybe you’ve seen this new gadget marketed by Quirky as the Power Pivot. It has become wildly popular. This one is now in our home and it is providing power to multiple products all from its resting place under Pam\u2019s side of the bed. Pam has become quite the techy…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Your Best Life Now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-08T11:47:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-08T14:01:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/07\/5-PVP2_SENIOR_WHITE_1-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"smcswain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"God and the Power Pivot - Your Best Life Now","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"God and the Power Pivot - Your Best Life Now","og_description":"God and the Power Pivot. Maybe you’ve seen this new gadget marketed by Quirky as the Power Pivot. It has become wildly popular. This one is now in our home and it is providing power to multiple products all from its resting place under Pam\u2019s side of the bed. Pam has become quite the techy…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html","og_site_name":"Your Best Life Now","article_published_time":"2014-07-08T11:47:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-07-08T14:01:27+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/07\/5-PVP2_SENIOR_WHITE_1-300x168.jpg"}],"author":"smcswain","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html","name":"God and the Power Pivot - Your Best Life Now","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/07\/5-PVP2_SENIOR_WHITE_1-300x168.jpg","datePublished":"2014-07-08T11:47:53+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-08T14:01:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#\/schema\/person\/a79b0cba765879c3d1711d801e7b5018"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/07\/5-PVP2_SENIOR_WHITE_1-300x168.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/07\/5-PVP2_SENIOR_WHITE_1-300x168.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/07\/god-and-the-power-pivot.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"God and the Power Pivot"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/","name":"Your Best Life Now","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#\/schema\/person\/a79b0cba765879c3d1711d801e7b5018","name":"smcswain","description":"I'm an Author... Leadership Coach... Counsel to Non-Profits, Faith-based Organizations and Congregations... Adjunct Professor of Communication at the University of Kentucky... Spiritual Teacher... Inspirational and Motivational Speaker. But not always in this order. On the university campus, I teach students the Art of Communication. In my public talks, however, I teach leaders the Art of Leading; I teach everyone the Art of Living...so that... when you come to the end... and, you will come to the end... You're able to look back on life feeling... Fulfilled... Accomplished... Content, Peaceful, and Happy, too... Knowing your brief but important journey has made this world a more... Conscious... Compassionate, and... Charitable place. What could possibly be more important than this?","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.stevemcswain.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/author\/smcswain"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/551"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":963,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions\/963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}