“If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I
do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there… But I will find in
the sacrament or Gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives
to me that forgiveness which was won on the Cross.” (AE 40, 214)
Meet my new Dell Inspiron 9400. A few weeks ago, one of the feet at the bottom of my Dell Inspiron 9200. You know what the "feet" are, don't you? They are those little rubber thingie-a-magiggies that make sure that everything is balanced underneath your laptop. Without the feet, your laptop rocks back and forth and goes "thud-lump" when you put your hands on the hand-rests.
When I call Dell up, I simply tell them that I want feet. I believe that I typed in the chat, "Dude, I need some feet!" They offered to send me some, then ask me if anything else is wrong with my computer? "Welllllllllllll," I say, "there is a small scratch on the LCD. I think it's a group of dead pixel." They tell me they will send me a new LCD. I say, "Well, that's fine, just send feet."
So, they replace the LCD. But, the new one cuased to cause my power to flicker. Then, a line develops down the top of it. Oh no! So, I call them up again and in two business days the Dell Technician is at my church changing the LCD.
Five hours after the nice Dell Technician leaves, a new line down my LCD. "Oh no no no!" I say. So, I call them back and they say they'll be out in two days. Dell calls the next day calls and tells me they are sending me a brand new computer.
<geek>So, I started with a Dell Inspiron 9200 with 1GB or RAM, a ATI Radeon 9700 Mobile, 80gig harddrive and today I have a new Dell Inspiron 9400 with a 1.76 ghz Intel Core Duo, 2 GB of RAM, ATI 1400x card, 100gig 7600 RPM, and a new 80211n wireless card.</geek>
This is my life. This is how it goes. It always works out for me. It's not cause I'm good, I'm not. It has to be Jesus. My laptop was never down. I was without it for like two hours as the technician worked on it. Price of my old laptop? $1400. Price of new laptop? The receipt says, "$2000" but I pay "$0."
My life is so cool, Stan just being around me is being sent a new Macbook Pro! But, since he's Stan, he had to wait significantly longer to have it all play out.
Wow! The technology on this new computer is so new that it took me a bit of time to get it to work in Linux. But, after a few days it's up and running.
But, you know what's most comical? It all began when I needed "feet." Welcome to my life that I cluelessly go through and my Lord is gracious to me anyway. Yes, God is most gracious to me when things go poorly... that's the theology of the Cross. But, that doesn't stop us from confessing Him good and gracious when things don't.
Here's my 3d Desktop on my new computer which is running Ubuntu Edgy with Beryl....
Posted On: October 30th, 2006 at 9:36am by luvable lutheran
Glad to hear you got feet Pastor! Now just make sure someone doesn't try to wash them and your laptop he he Your story also reminds me of our vocations that even though we fell like we might be "feet" and have a small job in the world around us, we are still accomplishing God's Will. So whether it's the environmental services folks cleaning up the biohazardous trash at the hospital I work at, the DELL technical person fixing your LCD and bringing you feet, or the Pastor delivering God's Word and Sacrament and the forgiveness of sins to wash away all our 'garbage," they are all important to do God's Will.
It's funny you mentioned you had computer issues since my laptop had issues of its own when it couldn't find the OS to boot a week ago thursday. I was on my way out of town, but maybe that was God's way of making sure I spent quality time with my family. The intial diagnosis looked like a harddrive failure and loss of my research from the last month (since my last backup). However, I was thrilled when the tech guy "resurrected" my laptop just by reattaching the harddrive cable to the motherboard as it had jiggled loose. Yes, indeed all people are important to do God's Will in our daily lives and it shows how much God loves us to provide for us as we need. Thanks be to God!
Posted On: November 03rd, 2006 at 11:57am by revcwirla
PC is to Mac as:
Praise Worship to the Historic Liturgy
Folger's Instant to Peet's Special Blend Dark Roast
Vinyl to leather
Ripple to Rothschild
Wesley to Luther
Ford to Maserati
NASCAR to Formula One
James to Paul
SF 49ers to Da Bears
Posted On: November 06th, 2006 at 9:19pm by Cold_Zero [ + ]
I would like to point out that this year, F1 went to a V-8 engine setup (I know, I know they allowed the V-10s to play as long as they were restricted). Both series build their rules around leveling the playing field and making everything competitive, so much for the ultimate technology in racing. Race cars in both series have as much in common with normal street cars, than an F/A18E Hornet has with my lawn mower.
I would also like to point out that the Colts are the only undefeated team in the NFL. So, 49'ers=Bears in my book.
Posted On: November 18th, 2006 at 9:03pm by AgentDelta
PC is to Mac as:
Praise Worship to the Historic Liturgy
Folger's Instant to Peet's Special Blend Dark Roast
Vinyl to leather
Ripple to Rothschild
Wesley to Luther
Ford to Maserati
NASCAR to Formula One
James to Paul
SF 49ers to Da Bears
My work is done.
Ubuntu is to Mac as:
AH-64D to Hughes 500
HT conferences to National Youth Gathering
Good theology to bad theology
Gmail to Yahoo mail
LCD to CRT
Steel swords to copper swords
Mustang to Kia Rio
USB to 9 pin serial.
Meet my new 
he he Your story also reminds me of our vocations that even though we fell like we might be "feet" and have a small job in the world around us, we are still accomplishing God's Will. So whether it's the environmental services folks cleaning up the biohazardous trash at the hospital I work at, the DELL technical person fixing your LCD and bringing you feet, or the Pastor delivering God's Word and Sacrament and the forgiveness of sins to wash away all our 'garbage," they are all important to do God's Will. 
