Sept. 22, 2013

Psalm 66:19-20

But God has listened; he has heard my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or hold back his love from me.

Finally … a phone with a working mobile hotspot!

An early concern about being at my in-laws was having internet service. They do not own a computer and their farm is in a bad location. A neighbor told me how difficult it has been to get internet service. I knew this would be a challenge.

After no internet the first week, I went to our cellphone provider and got a hot spot, a portable modem. The sales person assured me if I had cell phone reception, the hot spot would work. I had 15 days to try it.

The hot spot was less than hot. It worked one second and the next second, not at all. Things that should take a couple minutes took 30-60 minutes, if at all. I returned it. The next suggestion was using an Android phone as a mobile hotspot. For years, I had a Blackberry. I had tried an Android a couple times but always returned to a Blackberry. To get internet service, I purchased a new phone.

The second day I had the phone, it would not charge. I went to another store for help. The day after I switched phones, the entire company went down for a week to update their system. No one’s account could be accessed. The only option was a loner phone until their system was back up.

Sometimes, the new phone charged and sometimes the mobile hotspot worked and sometimes it didn’t. I had 15 days to try this phone. I stopped twice to report the phone was not charging and internet was spotty. The store ordered me a replacement phone. The shut-down drug on and I am only near this store one or two days a week. To get internet service, I went to the neighbor’s or the library or Culver’s. It was becoming quite a hassle.

On day 16, I went to the store. The system was up and running. Because it was after day 15, they would not exchange the phone even though the new one was in the store. My only option was to have the main company send a new phone to my in-laws. Ugh. More hassle.

The phone arrived and I got it activated. But internet service was still not working. Back to the store. The sales reps were stumped. Another call to the main company. The drivers were out-of-date. With updated drivers, back at the farm, I sat with bated breath. Finally, I had a phone with a working mobile hotspot.

This was a two-month ordeal plus several multiple hour phone calls about billing.  Rick asked if internet was necessary. I feel it is. Recently, the mobile hotspot came in handy. While at a Christian women gathering, the speaker needed an internet connection for her equipment work. It took a few tries to get her equipment connected to my mobile hotspot, but it did and she shared her presentation.

At multiple points through this aggravating and irritating process, I have thought of communication with God. How many times has God tried to communicate with me and my system was shut down? Maybe I caught part of the message but because of a malfunction, I missed some. When have people tried to share with me a message of God and I simply did not have good customer reception? When my prayers do not get immediately answered in the way that I want them answered, I blame God’s drivers for being out-of-date. When I do get an answer and I don’t like it, I pray up complaints and want a refund.

Let us be thankful that we have a God that never stops communicating with us, even when we get frustrated and think it’s a hassle to communicate back. God’s cell phone and internet service are never down. Thanks be to God. 

Lord God, you never stop speaking to us, though we struggle to pause long enough to listen. Slow us down enough to listen for your voice in our lives. Call us, O God, once again. Thank you for always hearing our prayers and being patient with us. Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne

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