"I Love Technology"

"...I love technology. But not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology. Always and forever..."

Good ol' Kip, the loveable dork from Napoleon Dynamite. As much as Kip loves technology enough to sing his "song" to his wife at their wedding, I on the other hand, am finding it to be a nemesis.

Yesterday I mentioned it was a tough day. Can you guess the reason? Huh...? Speak up, it's OK. I won't tell anyone you're answering me audibly. THAT'S RIGHT, TECHNOLOGY! Very good. I'm so proud of you! Even with a "new" laptop, an upgraded internet connection, and better software, I was getting frustrated how inconveinient "better" was. Make sense? We (Steve and I) were supposedly making headway, albeit ever so slowly, but progress nonetheless. Then Monday hits. OWIE!

Being that my emotions are often louder than my t-shirts, people couldn't help but notice. (Sorry everyone.) I did all I could to fix/help the situation but there were some issues that were outta my Minor League pay grade.

Thankfully God's grace is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-24). In settling down to spend some time with Him before work, I prayed as I always do before reading His word, that the Holy Spirit would reveal what He wanted to me and that I'd have ears to hear. (Any non-Christi followers are now lost due to my use of "Christianese".) Translation: I'd learn something new and follow it.

I'm in Luke chapter 10 right now (Yes, even though I haven't posted my daily devotion since...well...the blog archives know, I'm still spending regular time with my heavenly Father.) and this mornings reading was the story of Jesus sending out 70 of His followers "to every city and place where He Himself was going to to come" (10:1). Jesus told them to take no money, bag, or extra shoes (10:4). They were to go relying on God the Father to provide for their needs.

You would have thought having no supplies would hurt their ministry. They'd have to worry about finding food, a place to sleep, and even the weather. But the 70 people obeyed. (At least they didn't have to worry about being robbed. They didn't have anything to steal!)

Upon returning from their mission trips, you would have thought the results were less than satisfactory due to lack of supplies. They could have probably been more productive with at least some money. But the results were completely opposite! "The seventy returned with joy, saying 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.'" (10:17)

Jesus goes on to encourage them but brings them back to the big picture by telling them, "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." (10:20)

They weren't to rejoice in the power Jesus had temporarily given them (even though it was good and used for God's glory) they were to rejoice in what was truly important, eternal life with God! THE BIG PICTURE!

Takeaway

To often I become frustrated because I feel my resources are inadequate. My computer is too slow, email isn't working properly, or just plain lack of funds. But I need to to step back and look at the big picture. Will the Good News of Jesus Christ not be spread because my email isn't working properly? Ha! God always has control even though I'd like to think I do as well.

Does that mean I won't do my best and use all my resources to fix the problem? Of course not. But I need to work on remembering to keep what's important, what's important.

—b