No one likes being bossed around by a muppet, especially a short green one with 6 inch ear hair and an undefined speech impediment. But yesterday, that little green muppet dragged me through the mud.
I am a blessed man, great family and I have everything I need and many things I simply want. My two most favorite things in the world are my wedding ring and my awesome IPod. Now I'm not a name brand junkie, or at least I wasn't for many years. I've had an MP3 player for years, a little Wal-Mart brand 20 gig hard drive player and I've loved filling it with my eclectic music. However, when I heard IPod had made video IPods with huge capacities, I started to want, to crave, to desire a new IPod. I couldn't afford one for a while, and right at the cusp of being able to afford it I lost my wife's and had to replace it. So for a year I waited and dreamed about my new IPod, what I was going to do with, what I was going to put on it. Its always been one of my desires to have Star Wars with me wherever I go. Having a portable DVD player meant I could watch those movies anywhere, as long s I had a plug near me within a few hours and I had the DVD discs. But, with and IPod, I could have it anywhere anytime at the touch of my finger tips and with the right connection I could even play them on a television.
Well, I got my IPod last October and I have loved it ever since. If you want an example of obsession, let's talk about me loading my new gadget. I moved all my songs from my old player over to my IPod, spending all of my somewhat limited free time transferring and putting on new CD's. On my days off, I sat in one space all day transferring files, staring at the screen to make sure nothing gets missed. When I went to bed, way too late, my eyes were all bloodshot. Then I figured out a way to put any of the movies in my collection legally on my IPod through a great software and I became obsessed with that. Two weeks later I had 93 great movies on my gadget and I was happy, until I realized the sound didn't match the video, sometimes off by about 5 seconds. This was annoying, even if it was a bit funny watching Johnny Depp talk to the line "You like pain? Try wearing a corset!" I got help from a friend who told me how to fix it and I got cracking on putting all my movies on again, brand new, no flaws. Yesterday I was three movies away from being done when tragedy struck. My wife, completely accidentally, dropped my IPod, not just once but twice.You know in those really lame horror movies when the girl sees the bad guy, screams and starts running around in circles right in front of the guy, not actually going anywhere or helping herself, just looking stupid. Just call me bad actress, cause that was me. I begged my wife to stop touching my gadget nd just give it to me. I looked, no scratches, no cracks, no dents, no visible damage. But when I turned it on, nothing. AHHHHHHHHH! I reset, everything, ran around the house looking for the charger to make sure the battery was okay, checking every place in the house for it, including my son's toy chest. I was literally running in circles. No matter what I did, support online, advice, even doing what I thought was the last resort and one sure fix, erasing and resetting, my IPod shows nothing but a blank screen. I knew all of this within a half hour of the drop, but it didn't stop me from trying and trying and trying again for four hours.
At first my wife felt bad about dropping it, but after an hour of my cheesy horror routine, she got frustrated. I dropped everything I was doing, taking care of my kids, work, even skipping dinner to attempt for the 60th time to fix something I knew was broken. I ignored my family, the most precious thing in the world to me, for a composite of metal, plastic and glass. At some point, after reminding my wife for the 1415th time that she broke my IPod and I didn't know what to do "I need this IPod, what am I supposed to do without it? I can't replace it right away", she shook her head and looked at me and said, "You're obsessed, and need help." For some reason when she said that it caused me to slow down and think, and as soon as I did the words of that wise muppet I usually love to quote came into my mind, and completely ticked me off because last night those words applied to me. "Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose."I got freaked out, upset, went nuts, because I lost something I don't need, and I forgot that its an unimportant gadget that obviously don't need and if I'm that afraid to lose it, I am obsessed with it. It was like looking at a mirror. I hate mirrors because they show they show me what I don't want to see, my flaws. Realizing this flaw, this obsession made me feel like a total jerk, because I was being one. I had to say this to myself, "Its not that important, learn to be okay with losing it" until I actually started to believe it, because it is the truth. I had to let go and look at what's really important.
I lost something last night. My IPod's erased and broken. But that's not what's important. I didn't really lose it. Its still under warranty, and Apple is either going to fix it or replace it. I'll reload everything on to it, perhaps a bit slower this time, and I'll follow the advice of Yoda, and realize that its technology that's going to fail, break, wear out, get lost or stolen, and train myself to be okay with losing things like this, that's life and its going to happen. How I handle it will reveal obsession, greed, pride, or humility, strength, patience, and being content with a blessed life.What did I lose last night then? I lost a night with my family, eating dinner with them, laughing and smiling with them. Teaching my son little life lessons as they come up, playing with him, making him laugh, making my daughter smile, talking and spending time laughing or playing cards or watching a movie with my wife. I love these three more than anyone else in the world, but last night I didn't love them more than anyTHING else in the world because I ignored them for my gadget. That's not okay. I lost something precious last night, time. That's something to be sad over, not an IPod that was bound to fail one day. Just as my gadget failed me, I failed my family by letting a thing be more important than them. Sometimes my priorities need to get straightened out.
As a pastor there is one place I go the most to get answers and solutions and more often enough the butt kicks that I need. Ask.com told me to..........okay maybe a little lame attempt at humor (I can't be funny on purpose). I prayed about it, and asked for strength to be willing to lose what I'm afraid to lose, a thing; and the strength not to fail my family again or ever let anything get in between me and what's important. Along with that prayer came two scriptures, one easily recognizable and the other one not so much. Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Also 1 Timothy 6:17-19 "Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed."
Don't worry so much about the things of this world, even diamonds advertised to be forever, because there is nothing on earth that we will have forever, it will break, stop working, melt, rust, fall apart, be lost or stolen. Nothing here is forever, so don't put your worth and value in temporary things. Focus instead on the real treasure that will be forever. Of course this is relationship with God, our faith in Jesus, love for the Holy Spirit. Its also what I put my tie and energy in here, a thing or my family. Four hours I could have spent teaching my son about Jesus were lost, time to say goodnight prayers with my son are important, not an IPod. Focusing on God during that time would have taught me something new and/or given me a chance to have a ministry with my family, instead I paid hardly any attention to them forgetting too that time with my kids is an investment in their future. I lost a chance to be the husband and father God wants me to be, because I was hording up an earthly treasure that was busted, giving my time up for a hopeless pursuit instead of a worthwhile investment.Yoda's not a source of spiritual enlightenment, but sometimes that little green man has a good point. The wisdom of the Bible though, brings real enlightement and wisdom, answers and solutions, and the occasional kick in the butt we need. Last night I was kicked in the butt first by Yoda, and then again by the Word of God. I needed it.
I learned a valuable lesson, storing up treasures isn't just collecting and having, its also what I put my attention and energy and time into. I treasured an IPod, gave it my time and attention and energy over everything else. According to Scripture then, where was my heart? In a thing. Where should it have been? Doing what God has called me to do, be a pastor not only to my flock but to my family, my heart should have been in being the husband and father that God wants me to be and has called me to be. How well I learned that lesson will be shown in how I invest my time and energy from now on, in what I treasure and in where my heart is. We'll find out.
BLT says..........focus on Heavenly treasures.
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