I have had to do a lot of apologizing over the last several days, and the fault is not at all my own, in this case. My Verizon Android phone received its latest system update, and my text messaging immediately stopped working. I can receive texts, but I cannot send them. This means that people from all over are messaging me; their messages are going through, but it looks to them as if I am simply being rude and not responding.
To make matters worse, I did not even know there was a problem for the first 24 hours of this issue. On my end, every text I sent gave the appearance of going through just fine. It was not until I started getting some mildly annoyed messages that I realized my messages were not actually going through at all.
To test that, I texted my wife who was sitting right beside me. Sure enough, text after text, my phone said that the texts were sent, and hers never received them at all.
Naturally, this led to me calling 611 to try to get the issue resolved. After a few minutes and a “refresh of the system,” I managed to get a text to go through to Dana. And then, less than five minutes later, the same problem resurfaced. This led to yet another call to tech support, this one lasting a very long time, with absolutely nothing being fixed. I was promised, though, that the situation would be “escalated” and that someone would be in touch within 48 hours to fix the problem.
That time period came and went. So I called again, and to my chagrin, found that no one had any clue of my supposedly escalated situation. We basically started all over from ground zero, spent an extended time on the phone — and once again got nothing resolved. This time, though, I was assured that an engineer would be in touch with me. As of yet, that has not happened. In the meantime, I have found that, while I cannot send text messages, I can send photos. And this means that, instead of responding with messages like “Yes, I would be honored to come speak for you” or “How dreadful! We will come to the hospital at once!” I will instead be responding with political memes and photos of cleverly snarky bumper stickers.
It isn’t ideal, but it is better than being perceived as rude and unconcerned, I suppose.
I look back in fondness to those days, a bit over a week ago, when I was able to communicate with a simple text. It was such a charming time; I wonder why it ever had to end?
All of this, by the way, is why I also consistently refuse to allow updates on certain apps on my computer. I have a particular desktop search app that for years worked perfectly and then was completely ruined by a fancy new update. I managed to get the entire thing uninstalled and reinstalled, and I have refused to allow a single update to it for over three years now, thus keeping it working just as intended. My phone never gives me that option, thus my current problem. And I despise it; it is just a simple text message; how much “updating” does that really need? Does LOL or IDK really need to be constantly tweaked? Can we not reach a point where the powers that be say, “OK, it’s just right; let’s leave it alone and move on to something else”?
In the larger issues of life, though, I get the distinct feeling that the same mistake is often made. There is some chronological pride that makes us think that everything that ever came before us is deficient and in need of improvement. But some things have stood the test of time simply because they are already effective and beneficial.
A man and a woman getting married and then having sex and producing children and then staying together and raising those children in a stable home with the godly influence of a mother and a father will never, ever be able to be improved on. It builds strong societies and gives children the very best chance to succeed in their own lives. Three thousand years ago, Solomon was able to say, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother” (Proverbs 1:8).
Bodies of believers faithfully coming together in person each week to worship the Lord, and to hear from his Word, and to draw strength one from another will never, ever be able to be improved on. From the earliest days in Scripture to the very end of the book, there was always a designated place where God’s people came together to meet with him and each other, as shown in Exodus 25:8, Deuteronomy 12:5, Hebrews 10:25 and Revelation 2-3.
Living out a life of faith in public will never, ever be able to be improved on. Jesus’ stated expectation was that his followers should “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). A Christianity quietly confined to the four walls of a church once a week is not at all what he had in mind and cannot possibly fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 that we take the Word into all the world.
Trusting the written Word of God will never, ever be able to be improved on. I shake my head in sad amazement each time I hear someone say or infer that not only can the Bible not be trusted, it really is not necessary for us to trust it to believe in Jesus. Jesus himself did not feel that way; when tempted by Satan, he three times quoted the book of Deuteronomy to defeat him. Peter said that the Scripture was more sure than even his great experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. The omniscient God of heaven, who forgets nothing, will still be opening books at the Great White Throne judgment.
I guess I could summarize all of that this way: The wheel doesn’t actually need to be reinvented.
If you have any questions on that, send me a text, and I will be glad to answer you with a cool picture of my cat.
Bo Wagner is pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mooresboro, North Carolina, a widely traveled evangelist and the author of several books available on Amazon and at wordofhismouth.com. Email him at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org.