Monday, August 8, 2011

An experience of trouble.

I have an iPad, which I love, in fact it has become indispensable to me for capturing my thoughts and insights.  I am, like most of my generation, addicted to technology so naturally I quickly bought the iPad as soon as it became available.  About two months after I purchased this wonder of technology I sat down with it intending to do some research, as I clicked it's button to turn it on the screen remained black and I got no response.  I clicked the power button again and again with no response.  At this point I began to have a sinking feeling in my gut as I knew something was wrong with my precious pad.  My mind began racing as I wondered what was wrong.  I had paid a princely sum for the device but I had NOT bought the much touted insurance option that would allow me to get a free replacement in the event that I received damage to my pad.  Added to these thoughts was the realization that I live in the Bahamas and the closest Apple store was in Miami.  The feeling of doom was further compounded when I went to my now neglected laptop in an effort to do a search on the potential causes of the problem.   All I could find was a woman describing the exact same problem that i was having. With the devastating conclusion that her newly acquired iPad was a lemon and she chalked it up as a loss.  Now I did not want to have this same experience so I continued looking, but to no avail, for a possible solution.  Hours turned into days as I soon fell into despair.  Was I ever to get my iPad to work again????

Well into the third day of my ordeal I had a thought to go to a local computer store to see if they could fix it.  Armed with limited expectations I went to the store. Expecting that if he could not help me I would have to wait for a trip to the USA to get it fixed. I told the attendant about the problem with the pad and he calmly took it from my hopeful hands and laid it on the counter.  He touch TWO buttons and to my sheer delight the IPad came to life.  He told me that all it needed was a soft reset that ANYONE could have done the same.  I smiled because in my panic I remembered reading about this in the operating manual but it had escaped my mind.  This act of the computer repairman ENDED my days of anguish; my EXPERIENCE of trouble you can say.  But what happened later is the reason why I write.

Several months after this ordeal my sister, who had gotten an iPad after I got mine, called me one day.  I heard anguish in her voice as she began to say that HER IPAD HAD A BLACK SCREEN AND WOULD NOT TURN ON.  I quickly had a mental recall and I was able to CALMLY tell her the procedure to restore it's functionality.  She followed my instructions and true to form her iPad came back to life and joy filled her soul.  What you must appreciate is that MY EXPERIENCE OF TROULE THAT LASTED FOR DAYS GAVE ME THE ANSWER TO END HER EXPERIENCE IN MINUTES.  Now the similarities of the situation were the same in that she felt the same anguish I felt and the despair that accompanies it, what was different was the length of time of her experience.  The duration of her trouble was considerably shortened BECAUSE of the experience I endured.  This is not unlike Jesus' statement,

John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Jesus says to us that we too MUST have experiences of trouble but not to worry he has already OVERCOME the world.  As we learn of him we too are able to overcome.

I have heard the ludicrous conclusion that the trouble we go through is not for us but it so that we can comfort someone else.  This is ridiculous BECAUSE trouble teaches us and while others can benefit from our experience it is NECESSARY that we ALL experience trouble because IT IS ONLY WHEN WE ARE WEAK THAT HE IS STRONG!

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