failed

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All My Technology Failed Me

This past Sunday I discovered how dependent and a slave I have become to technology.

It’s not like I’m going to pull the plug on my tech, but it was an eye-opener.

This is what my Sunday looked like …

I use notes on my iPad to preach from; I transfer PowerPoint slides from my computer to the church computer to be projected on the screen during the service. And this Sunday I was going to connect my computer to a big screen TV to present my report at our annual meeting.

Here’s a quick summary of what happened …

First, I was unable to transfer my PowerPoint slides to the church computer. In the process of trying, I wiped out all the music slides and created a mess for our tech person.

Next my computer screen would not show up on the big screen TV.

After twenty minutes of trying, in a bit of a panic, I decided to go home, get my old computer and use a projector instead of a TV.

On my way to my car, it was like God spoke to me and said, “Don’t do it”.

I stopped, looked at my watch and realized I didn’t have enough time.

I answered God, “You’re right; I just wont use it.”

And you know, immediately I felt peace – not worry, not panic – just peace.

I went back into the church, and simply prayed about the service and the annual meeting for then next twenty minutes. When the Sunday service began, there were still no slides for the sermon, but the music lyrics came up on the screen.

During the song just before my message, I turned on my iPad, like I always do just to make sure my sermon notes are open and ready.

Well, it would not open for some reason. At that point I didn’t really have time to problem solve. I got up quickly, went to my office while the song was being sung, grabbed my printed copy of my sermon notes and came back.

I preached from my printed notes (first time I’ve had to use those), had no visuals on the screen, and in the afternoon gave my annual report, also from printed notes without visuals.

Later that day, I checked my computer to see if it would hook up to my TV at home and it did – no problem.

After rebooting my iPad, it worked fine.

And the slides for the sermon? The next day I was able to transfer them over to the church computer without issue. It’s still a mystery why that happened.

It was a very strange day with three tech issues happening at the same time. I realized how dependent I am on technology.

You could chock all that up to coincidence, or you might say God was trying to teach me not to be so dependent on technology.

A third option would be that evil wanted to disrupt me and our service by putting me in a panic.

Once I stopped reacting to what was happening, the Lord gave me peace about it all. I was able to calmly and successfully complete my work without any disruption.

Here’s the thing: There are times when problems happen; it is just natural. There are also times when God wants to get your attention. And there are times that Satan wants to rattle you. The best solution is to stop yourself from reacting, turn to God, listen to him and find peace to move forward.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you dealt with domino-like problems in the past? Leave your comments below.

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Another Failed Movie Night

We failed last night in our attempts to choose a movie to watch. You would think this is a simple thing, but it is never easy for my wife and me.

There are literally thousands of movies at our fingertips every time we attempt to choose a movie to watch, but still we can’t decide.

There is Netflix, iTunes, movies on TV and even the theatre if we want something brand new.

That doesn’t make it easier.

I don’t think there has ever been a time in our marriage where we both said, “Let’s see THIS movie.”

I don’t mean saying it at the exact same time, like a “punch buggy” thing; I mean both having the idea to watch the same movie.

We are diametrically opposed to each other when it comes to movies.

I like action adventure; Lily likes romance, and romantic comedy.

Do you know how few romantic action adventure movies there are? Someone could make a killing if they could produce more of these kinds of movies!

But having said all that, for Lily the action part really detracts from the thing she likes most in romantic movies.

I think the issue is how we approach movies in the first place.

I view movies more as an outside observer. My approach is more like I’m doing a ride along with the main character. I’m there with him, and I observe all the narrow escapes and harrowing feats, the bullets, explosions, yada, yada yada … but it’s not happening to me.

Lily, on the other hand, watches movies more like she’s in them.

There’s a new movie in the theatres right now called, “Jumanji”. I haven’t seen it yet because it’s an action adventure. From what I’ve seen in the trailers, the main characters get sucked into a video game and actually become the characters in the video game.

That’s how Lily watches movies. So when she’s watching some romantic movie with a particularly sensitive scene where the guy is saying something very touching to the girl of his dreams, when I chime in with some funny comment or mimic the line in a whiny voice, I’m not just mocking the movie, I’m actually mocking Lily.

She acts as if I’m saying that stuff to her and not the character in the movie … I think.

That’s why when she watches an action adventure movie, every explosion, every punch, she’s taking it on the chin.

When those movies are over, she’s tired because it’s like she just climbed up the side of a mountain, or parachuted behind enemy lines, or had to fight off some 7 foot, 350 pound guy.

That kind of thing can really drain you.

The other day I snuck up on her in the kitchen, and it scared her half to death. She said she lost three years off her life.

I hope those were just movie years and not real life years … although to her it’s all the same.

Here’s the thing: I don’t always understand how my wife thinks, or why she reacts in certain ways, but I do know that she loves me very much. The same is true with God. You may not understand why He answered your prayer that way, or didn’t seem to answer it at all. You may not understand why He allows some things to happen or unfold as they do. But one thing you can be certain of is that He loves you more than anything else. That is why He sent Jesus, His Son, to die in your place for the things you’ve done wrong. Be sure you’ve received His love by accepting His Son.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you handle not understanding someone? Leave your comments below.