Unplugged

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8 (NIV)

I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I have been unplugged. For several weeks, I noticed that the power cord to my laptop was getting unusually hot. Then, it started making a ringing noise. Like a bell or chime sounding far away. I am not a techno geek. I’m from the generation that used punch cards to register for college classes for Pete’s sake. Now, I don’t know how any of it works, but I have gotten so used to using it, I take it a little for granted. Which means when my battery charger/power cord started humming and heating, I paid it no mind. Until I turned on my computer and it said that the power level was critically low and turned itself off. And wouldn’t turn back on. Then, I had a meltdown. No e-mail, no blogging, no reading others’ blogs, no Internet surfing. I ordered a new power cord from Dell after read all the bad things people have to say about the product. Some people wrote that they have had to replace their power cord once a year because the workmanship was so poor. I wanted to yell at the Dell rep who took my order, but how could I take it out on “Ellen” in India who probably lives with her mom and dad and twelve children in a house smaller than my bedroom? I am waiting on it to be delivered even though I paid extra to have it sent in three business days, it is now three business days and I still don’t have it. I guess business days are longer in India. While my laptop is not the only computer in our house (go figure, now we each have our own, who would have thought such a thing twenty years ago?), the others are just inconvenient for me to use. Youngest son uses his for watching TV, talking to his girlfriend, studying and listening to music (all at the same time). So, finding time when his is not is use is rare. Husband prefers a desk top which is upstairs in our guest room/office/oldest son’s former room. I do not like to go up there because youngest son uses it for his dump. He leaves dirty dishes, empty bottles, food wrappers and wadded up papers there. It is a pig sty, and it makes me MAD! So, I play ostrich and just don’t go up there. When I finally had to have my computer fix, I ended up cleaning the room or the bathroom or the hall first. That left no computer time. All that is done now, and it better stay that way. So, here I am. All of this hassle over being unplugged got me to thinking about how easily my spiritual plug comes undone. All it takes is to stay connected to God through prayer and Bible Study, but I get busy playing on the computer, talking to friends on the phone, cooking or fusing glass all of which I couldn’t do if I forgot to pay my electric bill. It should be so much simpler to stay in constant communication with God and the energizing power of the Holy Spirit. There isn’t even a bill to pay or a power cord to go bad.