Coffee Stains: Perils of Modern Technology

Modern technology amazes me. Earphones for instance. I have some pastors that I love to listen to, so I load their messages from the Internet to my computer to my MP3 player. That way, I can listen and learn as I talk my walks through the village and surrounding vineyards. Sometimes I forget that everyone can’t hear what I’m listening to in my little world and I laugh out loud at something the speaker says. The neighbors probably think I’m ready for the lunatic ward. They may be right.

There’s one bad thing about my MP3 though. Two actually. It’s those crazy earplugs; they kept falling out of my ears. I think they were made for midgets because no matter how hard I pushed them into my ears, one of them would eventually wiggle out and fall. I’d wedge it back in and the other would fall. What a pain! I tried several solutions. The easy one would have been to buy earphones that fit but have you seen the price on those things? So I fixed them in place with scotch tape, but that was a hassle and I felt stupid walking around with my earphones taped in (laughing out loud at stuff that others couldn’t hear). I thought maybe I could lick them to get them to stick but I don’t like the taste of earwax. So, I finally broke down and purchased some that were kept in place by ear hangers, or whatever you call those things. That was a well spent ten bucks (seven euros actually) and now I walk and listen in peace. Well, almost.

Why is it that they make wires for the earphones thirty feet long? Those things resemble worms. You first job before walking is to untangle them. Then if you have to stick them in your pocket while you’re in the Post Office or the bakery they crawl around and tangle themselves again, “on purpose, I’m nearly sure”. Just to irritate me. I don’t know why I mess with the crazy things. Actually I do know why. I love to listen to those speakers. It’s better than music, better than the radio. So, I just untangle wires and keep walking. At least the earphones aren’t falling out anymore. Life seems to be like that. To get where you’re going you’ve got to lick a lot of earphones and untangle a lot of cords. In the Bible, Paul had a lot of problems with his ‘earphones’.

We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us” “trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us” “he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!’ (2 Cor.  4:9-11, The Message)

You may be in the same boat today. Things tangled themselves so much that your goals for the Lord no longer seem worth the effort. Hang in there and keep on. The end of the thing is worth whatever it takes to get there.

In the meantime, does anyone have a good solution for tangled wires?

Hmmm …

Comedian Bob Hope on his family’s early poverty: ‘Four of us slept in the one bed.  When it got cold, mother threw on another brother.’ Hope on his six brothers: ‘That’s how I learned to dance.  Waiting for the bathroom.’ (Thanks to Robert Arber for passing it on).