I might just have the tiniest sort of half liking, well I mean not total obsession but nevertheless, well, yes, mild enthusiasm for something….er….come on man, spit it out…oh dear…confession good for the soul and all that….
Alright - I like gadgets. There, I said it!
Cool kit. Gear. Equipment. Clever stuff. I like it.
A multi tool the size of a credit card. Nice.
A wrist watch with GPS which tracks exercise and sleep. Uh-huh.
A smartphone with Google and a multi-pixel camera which pairs with Bluetooth headphones and the car so I can have favourite songs and make calls on the move hands-free. Oh yes.
But here comes another confession.
Though I like gadgets I’m sometimes not very sure how to work them!
I have to ask my wife or daughters to put music on my phone, or show me again how to use the TV remote. Once it gets technical I need help.
Human beings are marvellous ‘gadgets’, wired with incredibly complex DNA and capable of many amazing things. Science, art, humour and laughter, love and sacrifice.
But if we’re honest we also make hideous mistakes, mess up and need help.
Joe Walsh, a brilliant musician famous for his work with the Eagles in the 1970s (responsible for half the epic guitar duet in Hotel California), was for many years addicted to a deadly mix of alcohol and other drugs. In the attached video, with typical Walsh humour, he admits he ‘got help from something greater’ than himself.
For Christians, help has a name, Jesus! He promised not only to forgive our past, but give us an ever present Comforter/Helper, the Holy Spirit Who is ‘in’ us as we trust and follow Him. (John 14v15-27) It’s like having Jesus with us constantly. So when facing a challenge we may find greater courage than we thought we had, or unusual discernment with a problem, at times even a beyond-ordinary quality of love.
Writing about the challenge of life and in particular doing church work in an often hostile environment the Apostle Paul writes:
‘To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.’ (Colossians 1v29)
So yes, we often struggle, but powerful help is close by.
It would makes sense to accept it.
We just have to admit that we need it!