Cell Phone Trouble

I’m still in awe of modern electronics. Our cell phones have come a long way. Yes, cell phones are great…until you have a problem with them.

Cell phone trouble sent me to the cell phone technology help store. My phone wouldn’t hold a charge, any calls to me went straight to voice mail, I had no audio notifications that I had incoming calls or texts, and my calls out took so long to connect that sometimes my phone just dropped it, and just forget my outgoing text deliveries.

The kind young tech girl quickly found the problem. She said that every time my phone was used it had to do a search for a server. “But I have a server,” I said. “Yes,” she answered, “But your phone has to recognize it each time. It’s not the server; it’s the phone not having a consistent connection to the server.” And she fixed that.

Suddenly, my battery had longer life, all calls and texts were coming and going with speed, and all the pings and dings I programmed into my phone to let me know I had current information were pinging and dinging.

And I realized that, boy howdy, there’s a spiritual lesson for me here.

Stay consistently connected to God (the server.)

It’s not the server’s fault that I’m disconnected. It’s my fault.

R. A. Torry (A pretty famous evangelist, church and college starter of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s) wrote it this way in His book, The Power of Prayer.

The people of Isaiah’s time were saying, “God does not answer prayer any longer. He may have answered in Moses’s days. He may have answered in the days of Elijah, but He does not answer any longer. Either His ear is heavy that it cannot hear, or His hand is shortened that it cannot save.”

“No, no,” said Isaiah, “The Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save: neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear. (Isa. 59:1-2) The trouble is not with God. The trouble is with you. Your sins have separated between you and God…If you are praying for something and not getting it, I beg you, do not think that God does not answer prayer…God may be dealing with you. He may be trying to bring you to your senses and to Himself. Get alone with God and honestly ask Him to show you if there is something wrong in your heart and life...When He shows you, set it straight at once. You will find an open heaven and a God who answers prayer.

Well said, R.A. Well said.

Stay connected to God by taking care of your sin.

And you will have constant  and consistent access to the Father.

Not A Professional

And yet another teacher of first graders story:

One little girl with her new school tennis shoes was having trouble keeping the laces tied. We, as teachers, try to help them become problem solvers and I encouraged her several times during the day to try it herself or find a friend. At the end of the school day she came to me with shoe laces trailing and said, “Ms. A. will you please tie my shoes?” I asked her if she knew how to tie shoes. To which she replied, “Yes, but I’m not a professional.”

It made me think of Philippians 3:12-14. Even Paul, the great apostle and devout follower of Christ Jesus, had to admit that he wasn’t a professional at this being a Christian.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I strive to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. I do not consider that I have made it my own. (He admitted that he wasn’t a professional yet.) But this one thing I do: forgetting what happened in my past and straining forward to what lies ahead, I pursue earnestly to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

I’m not perfect in this living the Christian life either. You may see me regularly with my spiritual shoelaces dragging. But I’m making a habit of pursuing the life that God wants me to have. If the laces of my life come untied and trip me up a bit I tie them, get back on track with God, and keep at it.

We don’t have to be professional Christians. We just have to be student Christians; always learning, always pursuing, and always reaching for our Jesus. He’s the professional. He will help us in this life to reach the heavenly goal.

I'm not a professional.

But one day I’ll be able to keep these life shoelaces tied!

To All The Nancy Nice Girls

Romans 13:1-7Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.  For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, (be nice – I added this interpretation) and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.  For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.  Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Yes, I had to remind myself of this passage just the other day. I was at the “Everything and Groceries Too” store at the self-checkout. The button “Finish and Pay” was flashing with a total of $89 and some cents. Since I hadn’t scanned anything, I had to call over the girl who oversaw the self-checkout stands. At first she wanted me to pay the total flashing but she saw I only had 4 things in my basket and it would have hardly totaled $30. So she had to cancel out the total and get to the start button. I questioned her, “So, do you mean someone scan scammed almost a hundred dollars’ worth of groceries and just walked out?” She said, “Yes, Ma’am.” And we both shook our heads. 

It just bothered me all the way home trying to consider how someone could go to that extreme to get around the system and do it with a clear conscience. Wouldn’t it bother them? How could they sleep? How could they eat food they stole? And, Yes, I had just read Romans 13 (in my quest to read through the Bible in a year) that morning.

I tried to picture myself doing the scan scam and couldn’t. Now before I got self-righteous patting myself on the back for being such a Nancy Nice, I had to realize that the Holy Spirit in me was the conscience warning part that made me have a problem with the scan scam artist. I couldn’t steal like that, not because of me but because of the Holy Spirit in me.

Sometimes we read passages in the Bible like Romans 13 and think of our submission to governmental authority only. But it goes to a more personal level. We are always to be Nancy Nice’s wherever we go. We don’t come back with an angry response, we don’t try to find the loop hole, and we do what is the nice and right thing to do. The Bible becomes our truth standard that we follow even when we see a way get around the system.

That day was a reminder of what the unredeemed heart considers acceptable because it wasn’t caught. That day reminded me of my redeemed heart that would have bothered me just considering doing the stealing. That day made me thank the Holy Spirit for making me a Nancy Nice. Now I’m not sinless. Oh no, I can sin with the best of them BUT I can’t walk away without getting smacked by my conscience. I just know I can’t sin guilt free. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

To all the Nancy Nice’s out there;

Thank you.

Let’s be nice for conscious sake together.

Psalm 119:1-2 Blessed are those whose way is blameless (the Nancy Nice's,) who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek the Him with their whole heart.