but I don’t want to die! Yet there I was staring death right in the face. Actually it was the blue screen of death on my computer. Since this is a fairly new computer, I hadn’t dealt with this problem in a while.
Larry: What can I possibly do to remedy this problem? I know, I will use the Microsoft troubleshooting function and follow its instructions. (15 minutes later)
Computer: Are you sure you want to erase all your files and totally reimage your hard drive?
Larry: WHAT?! NOOOO! Abort! Abort!
I decided to do my own research. The hardest part of the process was figuring out how to get into the Bios of this new computer. As I researched on my old computer, it actually said to hit F2 repeatedly . . . or F1, or F10, or F12. If none of those work, you must hit the Esc button repeatedly or possibly Del repeatedly. What in the World Wide Web is going on? I kid you not, that was the tech support remedy! Guess which one worked? That’s right, the very last Del option even though the computer is NOT a Dell. So after rebooting the computer way too many times, I finally got into the Bios and figured out I needed to go to the advanced SATA hard drive configuration and change the ACHI drive to the IDE drive setting. Of course, why hadn’t I thought of that initially? I’m sure most of you grade school kids knew that immediately but it took me a few hours to figure out. Fortunately I was able to raise my computer from the dead, unlike the tech support experts.
Yesterday I hooked up my 3rd brand new electronic item in a row that was broken out of the box! I discovered this is a new feature a lot of items have these days. Instead of waiting to break right after your warranty expires, they are now breaking immediately to save you the frustration later on!
These days I am naïvely optimistic that tech support and customer support people will actually be able to help solve problems. Unfortunately, all they know to do now is tell the victim, er, I mean customer to turn the unit off, unplug it, repeat, lather, rinse, repeat. (Please see the related Frank & Ernest cartoon.)
As the clock ticked beyond an hour on the phone trying to resolve an issue, the tech person “accidentally” hung up on me. AAARRRGH!!! A few days later I read a fascinating article in our San Diego newspaper about . . . Tech Support Rage! I realized that even beyond the products being broken, their entire company phone support system was broken! Then it dawned on me as I wasted my time naïvely hoping someone knew what they were talking about, not only was the product broken, and the company broken, but I was broken! This whole world is broken!
When I was growing up, a wild, controversial music group sang, “I want to hold your hand.” I’m not even going to quote any lyrics from today’s songs, but if you’ve heard any lately, I rest my case . . . this world is broken! But then, look who’s in charge (II Cor. 4:4).
Chapter 2 – MOMENTOUS YEAR
As I get older, my body seems to be breaking as well. A number of years ago I decided that if my body was a car, it would be time for a trade in. To quote tennis star John McEnroe, “The older I get, the better I used to be.” And to quote Mick Jagger, “What a drag it is getting old!”
I recently had a momentous, yet traumatic, completion of yet another trip around the sun. One of the brilliant members of our home group put it into perspective, letting me know that if I lived on Mars I would only be 31 years old. Then another said I should go to Saturn because then I would only be 2 years old.
When I awakened that morning to mourning this extremely large birthday number, I had to refocus and remember that it has also meant a rather large number of . . . blessings God has given me, not the least of which is the breath of life. The alternative to this many years is not preferable. I did some math calculations in my head (Yaay! I still remember how to add and multiply!) and realized that since I breathe about 10 times every minute, God has blessed me with approximately 315,366,000 breaths of air in my lifetime! Wow! If you are reading this, thank you for being part of those blessings in my life.
I realize I am broken, but I know I am nowhere near as broken as I would've been without Jesus Christ in my life! We’ve heard God doesn’t give us more than we can handle . . . but maybe God regularly gives us more than we can handle! That way we have to rely on Him during the problems and not lean on our own mind or strength. Remember I Cor. 10:13 has to do with not being tempted to sin beyond what we can handle.
And I also realized I should be broken because Psalm 51:7 states, “The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” Dear God, will You break our hearts for a lost and hurting world?
EPILOGUE
Mark my words, one day you will wake up to discover that overnight your computer became good friends with the computer at the bank and they began dialoging in JavaScript about a computer friend in Kenya who had a long lost Uncle who needed money so they transferred all your money to Kenya. In panic you will call tech support and they will tell you to unplug your computer and plug it back in again!