ENTRY #4: Broken Cellphones

It isn't what you think.

ENTRY #4: BROKEN CELLPHONES

     Now I already know what you're thinking. Everybody has them at some point in their lives these days. You're day would be all normal and then, out of seemingly nowhere, your phone falls and breaks. The Tragedy! The Horror! The cracks spider-webbing all over your screen.. The fear that it may no longer work.. and then the fear of "What do I say to my cellphone provider?" After much hysteria, you find, as usual with most breaks, it still works just fine and everything is still hunky-dory. Only problem? Your phone is never the same. Sounds a lot like a friendship or relationship, doesn't it? However today, I'm here to discuss a different topic.

     You see, with my phone, a Nokia Lumia 920, the screen had cracked and my heart was broken. HD screen, touch sensitive (much better than the Apple's heat sensitive screens if you have callouses) beautiful colors - Windows 8.1 perfection. Then it fell on the pavement at church. exterior screen was broken, but still worked. Then several weeks later, at my local Hot Topic, the Nokia fell again, this time damaging the interior screen where the visuals are displayed and the touch sensitivity is housed. Now I couldn't see my screen at all and could only ask Cortana, the superior Windows 8.1 version of Apple's Siri, to run tasks like turning on alarms and voice-over texting. I couldn't see my pictures, couldn't play any games, or upgrade any apps. I could only make phone calls, text, set alarms and play music. My 920 (and eventually my iPhoe 4S as well) was operating at a limited capacity. I wasn't fully functioning. It had lost potential and was failing to operate at full capacity. 

     

photo credit: ifixyouri.com

     It's kind of like us really. Here we are, people, and then the cares of life bat us at around and sin beats us up until finally, we crack. We cave in. The famed durability fails. And suddenly, we become like my 920 and 4S - failing to function at full capacity. 

      So did I really just loosely compare us humans to our own cellular devices? Well, sure! They have become an extension of ourselves and often reflect a lot about ourselves, much like a diary or a photo album would. So in all honesty, it's a fair assessment. We get so caught up in what had happened, we start doing the bare minimum with God because we're too afraid to step out of our comfort zones and move into the supernatural or even doing things we normally would never do. We limit ourselves by not letting God see and do what He ultimately wants to do through you and in you. We don't let Him in, trying to hide ourselves behind a wall of avoidance and sin. All He wants to do is restore us. He wants to take our cracks -  our mistakes and errors - and turn them around for something better. 

     I'm no expert, but i know that there are many people whose trust has been betrayed so many times, they ultimately can't trust anybody. They want to love and do things, but won't let themselves because they're afraid of the hurts and pains and refuse to let the past wounds heal. They're afraid, and only a Father's unfailing love and a Master's ever-present help can dispel that. 

     And so I ask: are we willing to let God use us and work through us, or are we going to be like my mostly useless phone, barely doing the bare minimum?  It's all up to you.