Ignore it or Return It

To jump back from my terrible blog update months - Here's a story of how God spoke to me from one of the most mundane un-biblical things in my life right now...

BUYING A COMPUTER.

The first big purchase I ever made with my own money was a laptop the summer before I left for college.

That was over 5 years ago. And I've still got that same laptop. So, she's kind of dinosaur like when it comes to the current shiny and fast models others have now a days.

Which means that it's finally time to look at some new options. 

After several weeks of research and conversations with computer people savvier than myself -  I finally decided on a Samsung Series 5 Notebook. Happily ordered it from Amazon and waited patiently for it to be mailed to the office.

On Wednesday the large box arrived at the office and I excitedly opened it up and slowly starting transforming it from a stock computer to MY computer.

A mere 8 hours later my "new computer" joy popped.

The mouse buttons had stopped working. 

Kind of a vital piece for a working laptop, CORRECT?

I'll spare you the gritty details about online chat help, long phone calls one too many people with difficult to understand accents and not enough answers and terrible wait music, but I discovered over the course of Thursday, that this was a recurring problem with the laptop and although "fixable", still a problem. By Thursday evening I had got the mouse working again and played around on the computer all day enjoying all its other features
fast processing speed, Windows 7, great speakers, keypad that is comfortable to type on

but with the threat of the mouse possibly not working again, I felt un-easy about my computer purchase.

So I prepared my shiny new friend to return to Amazon with the promise of a refund. 

Last night as I wiped any memory of my stuff off the laptop in preparation for its return journey I thought...
"I was so excited!
And everything else worked really well...
And it's working now...
Is this really worth giving up and going through this mess?"

YES!!!
my mind screamed.
It's the mouse... it is a big deal!
Get it out of here!

And then God poked me -
"sort of like that one sin you've been dealing with.
Everything else looks great, and it can seem like not a big deal.
But to me, sin is sin.
And I call you to love me wholeheartedly.
And I want you to be holy because I am holy.
So get it gone!
Return it now... don't keep it a second longer!"

And He can do that you know. He's the Creator and Savior of the ENTIRE world. He can get rid of my sin just as quickly as I got rid of that laptop.

The only difference. It cost me $12.85 to ship the laptop back (I stupidly threw away the box)
Christ asks me for my whole life.
It sounds like a bigger sacrifice.
But I'm actually finding it to be true freedom.

I promise I'll be updating more regularly this fall.
Things to look forward to:
Summer Rewind: I'll post my weekly updates that got sent to supporters and probably a couple great pictures and stories from my summer service in Dayton, OH.
What My Summer With LeaderTreks Taught Me: A mini series with guest writers Adam & Alissa (the two best interns a gal could ask for) and myself sharing a little bit of what God taught us from our summer in Dayton together
Grateful Journal: This year God has taught me a lot about living a grateful attitude, and I'll begin to share some of the things I've been thankful for throughout the month
Sunday Reflections: Short posts about what God is sharing with me and changing me through the amazing community at Jericho Road Church

So check back soon!