We’ve all had it happen.  Things are humming along, you’re even having a good hair day, you are in the zone.… And then out of nowhere something happens to the technology that you depend on most.  Whether it’s your phone, PC or laptop, it crashes and you go into instant panic mode. It is shocking how life affecting it is.  Everything comes to a halt. 

Suddenly, you are in overdrive, scooping up your device and rushing it to whomever seems qualified to help, just as you would rush a loved one to the emergency room — well, almost.  All you want is it fixed and fixed now. 

This is not to bash technology.  Although it has enhanced, and distracted us, in ways that are complex and not a little controversial.  We rely on it to make our lives seemingly better, safer, and more efficient.  We can no longer imagine life without it. (When, for example, was the last time you left without your cellphone and didn’t turn right around to get it?)

It’s downright scary when you think of it.

When it crashes, we are faced with both a dilemma and opportunity.

There are things in life, real breathing things, that also crash.  These things also get malware, corruption of their operating systems, messages that pop up to warn us that something is wrong. Relationships, jobs, resources, health, and even our faith.  Sometimes these become compromised.  They break.  They need an upgrade. 

No matter how much we coddle, refresh, and find work arounds, eventually things that are unattended will crash and we must deal with them.  Never are these fun.

We need more than a reboot.  Sometimes we need a factory reset, a do over.  A fresh start. 

It’s easy to understand that when crashes come, we are instantly vulnerable.  We are are fearful because we don’t want to lose something, or someone, that is dear to us.  Pictures, memories, documents, covenants… These all represent the story of our lives.  They are a part of us and we want to protect them.

In the case of relationships, I believe our fear is in the loss of all our yesterdays.  We are programmed to believe that people will stay with us for forever.  How can we do without a person we have come to depend on?  Someone perhaps who you can hardly imagine your life without?

Or maybe you are forced out of a job that you have been at for years, have received a diagnosis that has an uncertain future, have had a tragedy strike your family that is challenging and even causing you to question God… The list of things we must endure can be with us for many long and difficult seasons. 

I may not be able to explain to someone how wifi works or what a gigabyte is.  But I can share what I have learned from my own time in the crash zone.  My answer would be to point them to the One who has gotten me through.  He has an owner’s manual that never goes out of date.  He has a way of knowing just what to do.  He’s the ultimate Genius.

When God takes us through a reset, the first step is usually to power us down, to humble us.  He will cause us to look deeply at the substance of who we are, what drives us, what are our priorities.  Sometimes we need to be removed from situations or people who no longer support us.  We may discover outdated ways, programming, that are in conflict with what He has for our futures.    

Breakdowns allow God to rebuild us with better components.  When we trust Him with the process, we can be reconfigured, redirected, reconnected to the right source.  He can make all things new.

When a crash comes, we often do lose something.  It costs us, and often this is more than we can ever imagine.  Sometimes this is brought upon us by our sin.  Other times, it will come in ways that have nothing to do with us at all, but God will turn it around for our good.

Our protection, our defender, comes in the Manufacturer.  We may never know why things have to crash.  All we can know is that He has us when they do.  

I wonder… Have you gone through a reset?  Has God walked you through something that has caused you to depend on Him rather than something or someone else?  We have all been there.

The crashing has a purpose buried deep within it.  He will restore all that is lost. 

He will get you up and running as good as new again and in ways you can hardly comprehend.

Just watch and see what God does.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21