Quiet! Be Still!

I saw this phrase on a local church sign this week, and after the week (or two) that I have had, it was a very relevant message for me. My new year has been filled with mechanical/technological problems.

First, I have had car issues.

I replaced the battery, which is what we thought the issue was. The problems continued. I asked someone at our church to check it out, and he gave me his opinion.

I took it to a dealership and they cleaned it up but said there was not a major issue. I got the car back and the problems continued, again! I took it back to the same dealership and they checked it out again and still could not find anything wrong, except that the battery was a dud.

Now the battery was four weeks old and under warranty. I called the place that installed it the first time and they did not have that battery in stock.

They sent me to another place which did have the battery and that shop switched it out, but called the wrong number, so I had to come back the next day and pick it up. All these places are “in town”, about 45 minutes away.

I mentioned the wrong phone number because in the midst of this car issue my phone would not charge, so I took it to get it looked at.

The night I took it, I could not wait the two hours it was going to require for the repair. We scheduled an appointment two days later.

Two days later, after I dropped the phone off, I got a call saying that the tech who could do the repair was not actually working that day. I had to come back two days later when he would be available.

However, when I got the phone back the microphone inside that allows me to be heard did not work. I brought the phone back on Sunday and got the charging port repaired, but the microphone had still not been fixed. I would have to come back again.

My wife and I went home and the charging port was not fixed! I went back on Monday and finally the charging port was fixed, the microphone was fixed, and I received a 50% discount for the inconvenience.

Then I found out that the charger that came with my phone did not work, so I had to replace that too.

However, now I sit here tonight with a car that seems to be working and a phone that works again and a brand new charger…

Whew, what a first couple of weeks of 2018.

The back and forth to town. The hassle of my devices not working properly. The confusion about what was causing the problems.

After all that, I was riding down the road today and saw this church sign, “Quiet! Be Still!”

While it is a direct reference to Jesus calming the waters in Mark, it reminded me of Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

What a great reminder that in the midst of all that life brings and all that Satan throws our way, God is reaching out to us. He reminds us that we just need to be still and let Him be God.

No matter what you are going through right now – no matter how big or small – be encouraged today that God is bigger than our problems and He wants us to just sit and be with Him.

To slow down. To remember. To recognize that He is God.

Anyway, I was just thinking…