Power Outage

Everything was fine one minute.  Then suddenly the lights blinked off, the printer made noises and the television went black.  As all that was registering in my brain, the lights came back on.  We had experienced a brief power outage. Of course, it was long enough to make the clocks flash and the computers request a sign-in password.  I traveled from room to room, getting everything up and running again.  

Who knew such a brief interlude of no power could affect so much?  

Once again in the TV room, words bounced around on the screen.  Words I didn’t want to see.  Receiver is re-starting.  And then something about the connection had not been achieved…try again.  Those words were repeated in a cycle.  

That was the start of a very long evening.  

Even though I am a novice when it comes to techie things, I tried to resolve the issue myself.  I Googled.  I followed instructions.  No luck.  I called my guru friend who knows all things techie.  He Googled.   We tried for probably 30 minutes.  No luck.  When the words “Step 1 of Step 2 – This is will take a minute” stayed on the screen for much longer than a minute, we stopped trying.  So, no TV for the night.   

My plans changed.  

The next day I called Customer Service to ask for help.  The pushing of numbers and responding to a robot was not pleasant to say the least.  Finally, I was talking to a real person.  He instructed me to do all the things I had done several times the night before.  Even though I told him that, he had me repeat it.  When the words Completing Step 1 of 2 were displayed on the screen, he said, “Very good”.  I burst that bubble by telling him it had said that for two hours the previous night.  We waited and waited.  Finally, he said, “I need to transfer you to a specialist”, and promptly disconnected me.  That phone call had taken 26 minutes.  

Back to the pushing of numbers and answering robots.  

 

The next guy wanted to start all over again.  I said, “No, we’ve already tried all that.”  He repeatedly put me on hold to try stuff on his end.  After 23 minutes, he said, “You need a new receiver.  I will have one shipped to you.  You will receive it in 3-5 days.”  All of that because the power flicked off and back on.  

Life is just like that. 

One minute you are sailing along and then suddenly your plans are changed.  Sometimes it’s just a bump in the road and you are back on track in no time.  Other times, no matter what you try it just doesn’t fix it.  

But we have Someone we can call who is always available…no pushing buttons or answering robots.  He understands the problem and has the answers.  Sometimes our spirits are calmed, and life continues after a brief talk with Him.  Other times the answer isn’t so simple.  It takes effort on our part to reach a solution.  It may even take longer than 3-5 days.  But the result is always worth it.  

I’ve turned to Him many times.  

“Rejoice in our confident hope.  Be patient in trouble and keep on praying.”  Romans 12:12 (NLT)