A Proper Attitude

Not long ago I helped a friend of mine correct a few problems on his laptop computer. Since then he’s returned with problems on other computers and together we’ve figured out what needed to be done to fix them. I’ve turned him on to some really good maintenance programs to help keep his computer from giving him more trouble in the future. Things were good, except for a rogue program that just kept popping up now and again, part of his original problem. I instructed him how to get into the computers registry and root out the pesky program remnants, which worked, but that wasn’t enough for him. He got to rooting around in places he didn’t belong and the computer hasn’t run since. To make a long story short, again, I’ve tried every “easy step by step” remedy on the internet to solve the problem and short of hitting it with a hammer or tying it to my bumper and dragging it down the road a few miles, I’ve yet to get it running. With a little finesse I’ve come close, but it looks like a major operation ahead. I’ll let you know.
Too often the solutions we try to apply to situations of life, recommended by “friends” or “experts”, seem to fall short of exactly what we need to solve our problem. Then again sometimes we don’t understand the full scope of the situation and apply the wrong logic. Speaking of logic, that brings to mind common sense, and that brings to mind what some “Emergency 9-1-1” operators have to contend with. Here are few real misguided “9-1-1” calls. Two couples were sharing a motel room and called to proclaim there weren’t enough bath towels. A man called and simply stated, “Please connect me to Switzerland”. A woman called to report she had hiccups that wouldn’t quit. Another called to report a wild mouse running around in her house. A man broke up with his girlfriend and wanted the police to go to her house and report to him the owners of any cars, other than hers , in her driveway. A distraught lady called 9-1-1 to report a fight in a parking lot. When asked to describe the combatants, she said, “I’ll try. There’s one man, and he’s dressed like Elvis. He’s kicking another man, who’s lying on the ground screaming, ‘You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog’!” Blessed are 9-1-1 operators.
[Isaiah 61] In this chapter is Isaiah’s prophecy of what the ministry of the coming Messiah will be. When handed the book of Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus’ home town, Jesus searched to find and read the first part of this chapter, not divided in chapters in those days, and then announced himself to the gathering that He indeed was the Messiah when He said, …“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”. (Luke 4: 14-21) Read farther and you’ll find the crowd forced Jesus out of town to a cliff where they planned to throw him off, but Jesus simply passed through the out of control crowd, “…But passing through their midst, He went His way”. For many years, even following my own baptism, I was seeking to find something in religion that just isn’t there. With all the books and stand-out orators and so-called modern day prophets, I felt lost among the saved. I was walking one way and Jesus was passing me by going the other way. But, I finally applied the proper application to my life, “…seek first His kingdom and His righteousness”. (Matt. 6: 25-34) Then life began to make sense and the troubles of life began to melt away, studying God’s Word and living as it instructs me to do. Life’s 9-1-1? PRAYER! Oh, and stop complaining, and start praising God for once!