>upgrades

>Have you ever had this experience – your computer has received a message saying that it needs to update a program while you are out of the room and by the time you come back it has installed the update and is in the process of rebooting itself, never mind what else you had running at the time?


If not, you are blessed. It happened to me this morning. I was not happy, although I decided to remain calm and try to reflect on the experience instead – hence this blog entry.


Would my life be easier or better if God installed updates at regular intervals without me having to do anything? Would it be helpful if he interrupted what I was doing and uploaded new and improved Nick v 43.1.2.5 without my asking him to?


Yes and no.


Yes – because I know that I am not always so in tune with him as I should be and so need his Spirit to be changing me and making me more like the person he created me to become. That’s not something I can do myself.


No – because I would like to be more in control of my life than that. I am not sure I like the idea of God being able to intervene at any stage and stop what I am doing in order to make some adjustments to me.


Except that is what he does sometimes. Sometimes the words someone else uses brings me up short and makes me reflect on my own relationship with God. Sometimes (often) events happen over which I have no control and God uses those moments to give me the opportunity to respond to him. There have been times when, admittedly after I have invited him to, God has overwhelmed me so much by his Spirit that it has felt like a complete system reboot, and I have needed it!


On balance, I would much rather God was upgrading me on a regular basis than I was standing still or going backwards in the process of being a follower of Jesus. Today I will be looking for those moments and opportunities when he can do that.


If restaurants operated like Microsoft programs…
Customer: Waiter!
Waiter: Hi, my name is Bill, and I’ll be your Support Waiter. What seems to be the problem?
Customer: There’s a fly in my soup!
Waiter: Try again, maybe the fly won’t be there this time.
Customer: No, it’s still there.
Waiter: Maybe it’s the way you’re using the soup; try eating it with a fork instead.
Customer: Even when I use the fork, the fly is still there.
Waiter: Maybe the soup is incompatible with the bowl; what kind of bowl are you using?
Customer: A SOUP bowl!
Waiter: Hmmm, that should work. Maybe it’s a configuration problem; how was the bowl set up?
Customer: You brought it to me on a saucer; what has that to do with the fly in my soup?!
Waiter: Can you remember everything you did before you noticed the fly in your soup?
Customer: I sat down and ordered the Soup of the Day!
Waiter: Have you considered upgrading to the latest Soup of the Day?
Customer: You have more than one Soup of the Day each day??
Waiter: Yes, the Soup of the Day is changed every hour.
Customer: Well, what is the Soup of the Day now?
Waiter: The current Soup of the Day is tomato.
Customer: Fine. Bring me the tomato soup, and the bill. I’m running late now.
Waiter leaves and returns with another bowl of soup and the bill.
Waiter: Here you are, Sir. The soup and your bill.
Customer: This is potato soup.
Waiter: Yes, the tomato soup wasn’t ready yet.
Customer: Well, I’m so hungry now, I’ll eat anything.
Waiter leaves.
Customer: Waiter! 
Waiter: Hi, my name is Bill, and I’ll be your Support Waiter. What seems to be the problem?
Customer: There’s a gnat in my soup!