I was drug kicking and screaming into the age of technology. Most of the time I see myself as functionally capable of managing my computer, tablet, Kindle and assorted other gadgets. Generally, when I get into a rut, I ask one of my children to help out.  They all know more than I do.   Yesterday I switched phone carriers. I’d been with my old “pay as you go” plan with it’s simple flip phone, well – since flip phones were pretty much the only option. I got the phone for emergencies. I never intended to use it much. Outside of close family members, very few people have that number. But, I was tired of getting text messages my phone couldn’t read and the limited coverage of my phone carrier.

No children were available when I started activating my phone.  Which is when the problems all began. The new reconditioned, certified phone was supposed to be easy to program.    I waited until the carrier had my number, which I was told would make the process easier. Partly, it was the dumb questions I was asking. Partly, it was the tech chat help who couldn’t figure out the obvious. I was on the third or fourth restart, when the phone did the automatic programing it was suppose to do. Along the way, I tried to edit the contacts which were not completely together. The problem was, that when I touched the contact name that was suppose to open into an editing screen, it called the number instead. Which had  me to apologizing  for the interruptions and another chat period with my phone carrier.

Hours after I started, I had the phone programed. I hope it works. I hope I can trust it to both make phone calls and receive them. I thought it would be so close to my android tablet that I would know most everything already. It was a good thought, even if it was only partially true.

Life is like that. We think we know the answers before we start. We figure something should be simple. We tell ourselves there is nothing to it. We don’t expect problems in the simple. When they come, we can become frustrated with the problem, with ourselves and with other people.

Fortunately, God is with us in our frustrating moments. I’m reminded that nothing “can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Not even a frustrating day trying to set up a phone that resists my best efforts. God is with us when we are embarrassed by our ignorance. God is with us in our less than perfect record of getting our lives in order. God is with us when the simple is far more complex than we thought it should be. God is with us.  Thanks be to God.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39