By: Jack Kale, Pastor Central Pensacola Beach
Every morning I have the same routine. I read two different bible plans on the Bible app: One Year through the Bible and New Testament in a Year, both by The Bible Project. Then I pray for Sandra’s students, name by name, followed by lifting up Julia as she goes through basic training. Then I do Versle (a Bible verse app), followed by Wordle, and then Connections (both from the NY Times). This morning, everything went fine until I got to my last stage. That’s when Connections said, “Oops. Something went wrong. Try again later.”
Tim is on my morning text thread list. I send him my scores on Versle, Wordle, and Connections everyday. It’s a friendly challenge and one that pushes us to do our best each day. Emily, Damon, Ken, Mickey, Brett, Emma, Toby, Gabe, and Julia are each on separate threads. Today, I got stuck at the next-to-last step because Connections wouldn’t work. I couldn’t do it. I was left looking at an error message. I wasn’t alone. Tim sent me a text later with a screenshot of the same error message I had been getting: “Oops. Something went wrong. Try again later.”
In life we are rarely alone when something goes wrong. We have friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, and fans who go through life with us when things go sideways. Oftentimes, what went wrong involves the people we love. A health struggle, a breakdown, a financial problem, or new stress gets introduced into what was a normal and healthy relationship, only to put it on pause. That reaction you just got that seemed out of line was probably because of an “oops, something went wrong” moment. So we end up trying again later.
A dark humorist said, “If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not the sport for you.” Word. Thank goodness that most of life does, in fact, afford us the opportunity to try again and again. Doctors practice medicine. Lawyers practice law. Athletes repeat and repeat as they get better and better. We keep finding problems, diagnosing them, and trying again.
The Apostle Paul was a guy who knew all about facing problems. He was arrested, slandered, beaten, jailed, and shipwrecked as he shared the message of Jesus. Even in prison, he found a way to encourage people to keep trying when they encountered a stumbling block. “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13b-14, NIV).
This week something is going to give you a pause due to a problem. I invite you to try again later. Don’t give up. Keep loving that person even if they are hard to love. Forgive them even though it is difficult. Try a different angle. Start over. Take a breath and begin anew. You are not alone, and that problem won’t last forever. Ditch the glitch, and get back to it.