A Bad Day

I had one bad day! (Well, actually it was a bad 42 hours— which technically is more than a day).

My bad day started when we returned home following dinner with friends, and discovered that all the technology stuff in our house had gone “kapooey.” (“Kapooey” is not a technical term, but I think it adequately describes what had happened. Nothing was working). No Phones. No Internet. No TV. No problem, right? I called our technology provider and they told me that a fine technician would be at our house the next afternoon. I can live without phones until the next day I assured myself. It’s not so bad, I said. In fact, I might welcome the silence.

The next day, a fine technician arrived at my door ready to restore all of our missing services. (Here’s a handy piece of information: If a computer technician shows up at your house sporting a college baseball hat, it is preferable that the college of choice would be Stanford or MIT or Harvard— a school that knows a thing or two about technology. You do not want the technician wearing a hat from a certain school south of here that is known for football, paying recruits under the table and hog tyin’. You guess it. Not only was my tech wearing the afore mentioned school’s hat, I think he might have been the “hog tyin team captain). Even still, he assured me that he would have our phones, TV and computers “up and runnin’ in no time.” Well, to quote the famed theologian Meatloaf, “Two out of three ain’t bad.” Our TVs and phones were up and running quickly— but our computers were another story. He worked. And worked. And worked. Until Karla came to me and said those fateful words: “Rob, the tech guy just crashed your computer.”

NOOOOOOOOOOO! That is bad.

And it was true. My computer that contains most of my life from the last three years crashed. By the way, it appears it crashed really bad, really, really bad. This was no fender bender. This was a full blown semi truck meets Ford Pinto type of crash. Best Buy’s Geek Squad couldn’t fix it, neither could the “disaster data recovery guys,” (if the guy whose job tile is: “disaster recovery guy” can’t fix it…. Then my friend, you are in trouble. Make that, I am in trouble!). So as I type on my makeshift computer, my real computer is at some mysterious lab undergoing some top secret computer recovery procedures. They tell me I will know in a week what (or “if” something) can be recovered.

If you are keeping score at home— that’s one crashed home electronics system and one crashed computer. It gets worse.

The next morning I went to the ATM machine to get out my weekly allowance. The ATM machine informed me that my card had expired. Like a scene from a horror movie, the machine laughed at me (well, it seemed like it was laughing) and said in a voice that sounded eerily like Newman from the old Seinfeld show, “There’s NO MONEY FOR YOU. HA HA HA….”

I went to the church— with no money for my morning coffee. No money for lunch. It gets worse.

Speaking of lunch, the staff went to a local eatery. Of course, I had no money so I used my credit card— which I promptly forgot to take with me when we left the restaurant. After much worrying and searching I finally remembered where I had last seen Mr. Visa. I guess I will know in next month’s billing cycle if the fry cook was an honest fry cook after having my credit card for about 30 hours. I sure hope he was an honest fry cook.

Still keeping score? One crashed system. One crashed computer. No working ATM card. One lost Credit card. It gets worse.

After the grueling day, I was ready to go home. My sermon preparations were not going great. (Hopefully, by Sunday it will have gotten much better). The news on my computer was not great. My back up computer did not allow me to receive e-mails or print or have some necessary programs. My gluten free diet must not have been gluten free enough— I was having some tummy troubles. The election talk was getting me down. My dentist called to remind me that this week he is going to “crown me with many crowns.” My head was hurting. Enough is enough, I figured. I just needed to get home— at least at home my family would remind me that none of that stuff matters. That stuff is just stuff and it’s relationships that matter. So I slowly walked to my car, a little beaten up maybe, but not knocked out. I got behind the wheel, turned the key….. and nothing. That’s right— my car would not start. Like Howard Cosell in the Thrilla in Manila, I think someone was yelling, “Down goes Prince. Down goes Prince.”

AHHHHHHHHHH!

Ever have a day like that? Nothing seems to be going right. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong. You’ve told yourself, “Nobody died. No one is in the hospital… things could be a whole lot worse. Blah. Blah. Blah.” Still the day stinks, stanks, stunk. Yea, we’ve all had days like that. So what do we do? Go home, get under the covers and say: “Wake me up next Tuesday”? I suppose that’s one option.

I have a better idea. How about focusing on my favorite Bad Day Bible Verse: Isaiah 41:10. It says: “Don’t be afraid for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” It’s good to be reminded that we are not alone. When cars and computers breakdown— we are not alone. When things are lost and trouble mounts— the One who created the Universe is close by. We all need to be held up by God from time to time. We all need to be strengthened and reminded to not fear. Isaiah 41:10 is a good reminder that even on the lousy days God is still God and He is still Good.