Everybody should be allowed at least one computer day a year. By that I mean a day you didn’t plan on losing to some form of technological breakdown in your high-tech arsenal of electronics necessary for twenty-first century communication.
Mine turned out to be six hours in the Apple store yesterday getting Marti’s iPhone to sync with her calendar and contacts. Forrest, Michael, Mandy and I are all on a first name basis now, and given how hard they worked to try and help me, I have no complaints in their regard. I understand this is part of the nature of the beast. Six hours. And I had Chandler with me as well. In fact, it started out as a one-on-one session with Chandler to help him get the most out of his computer, and the poor guy never got his shot. I never would have made it as far as I did if they didn’t have video games he could play in the store.
How did I do? Well I definitely could have done better. I could have seized the opportunity to find out what this experience was all about. Instead of fighting it I could have gone with it and looked for what meaning I could find in the futility, and gain through what appeared to be a random sequence of malfunctions. I could have asked, “God, what do you have me here for right now?” (There’s nothing random with God.)
I’m writing about this so that those of you who might be going through a similar experience might think to ask God the question, “what do you have me here for right now?” Actually, we could all stand to ask ourselves this question many times a day.
John Fischer The Catch 
It’s not just computers. Anyone ever had a home improvement that became a home renovation??
The prayer that asks God to give us patience is the most dangerous prayer we can pray!
It’s funny that you should have this story today. I have been dealing with electronic failure for the past week. My laptop motherboard died. My cordless telephone died. The cable box died and had to be replaced. And the SYNC system on my Sport Track was erased during an “update” at the Ford dealer. Now, there was a time when these things didn’t exist and I didn’t miss them the way I do now. How did WE exist without these things? As my Ford salesman put it “It’s like color TV and flush toilets. You don’t miss them until you don’t have them anymore.” Thanks, John. I just wanted you to know that you are in good company….
Your Catch of that day was truly timely in my life. I was reading it while waiting at the ER for my 6 year old son to arrive. I was supposed to be meeting my wife at a Dr. appointment as she is 37 weeks pregnant with our baby girl. She called on my way to the appointment to say she’d been called by the school and our son had fallen in the playground and they think he’d broken his arm. She was bringing him to me and she was off to her appointment. As I was anxiously waiting their arrival, I spent some time checking my emails, which included that day’s Catch.
I was in my “Why me” mode prior to reading this and it really helped me to keep perspective. As he’s grown to independence in the simplest of things and we are preparing to face the deepest of dependence with our newborn’s arrival….. our breakdown was physical and not technological in nature and yet our life is taking steps back.
The technical breakdowns seem rather “easy” to fix and to deal with in retrospect. Upgrades take seconds or minutes. Replacements come easy. Technology has become quite disposable. Yet, we forget how God allows life to put us in places to remember what things used to be like and how to embrace the progress we’ve made.
Thanks for your obedience to speak what you feel when you do John. That seems to be such an undervalued part of following God in my opinion. I appreciate what you do and what you share.
Blessings to you and your family this Holiday weekend!
Jeff
I’m so glad we got to you in time!