Naive
One of my mentors used to often say, “It takes a lot of time to live.” I did not really get what he meant by that at the time. I was just out of the Air Force, living in a corner of his basement. I had no bills in the Air Force, the only one I had with him was minimal rent.
I get it now.
Aware
Last month I switched to a different internet service with the same provider. It was supposed to reduce my bill, give me faster speed, and simplify my life. One out of three ain’t bad. I have faster speed, Netflix works better. But, I have spent about 24 hours on the phone with them on technical issues. My billing rather than having one place to pay for all of the services online once a month has now apparently been returned to four individual paper bills that have different due dates. Additionally, I was not told of these changes and when I tried to pay my bill as usual last month I was told it was not ready. Since then I have paid one and got a nasty gram telling me that I owed more. If the bills are accurate they represent a 20% increase rather than a savings.
So I get it.
We live in a broken world which we are warned not to love, 1 John 2:15 – 17, but we do. We have to live and work in it. It is under the domain of the enemy and he delights in destruction. So what do we do.
Functioning in Grace
For me, this last month I did better. I prayed for the ability to show grace to the people on the phone, with the exception of one of those people I was able to do that. If it is the case that God is sovereign and he does not allow me to be tempted beyond that which I am able, 1 Corinthians 10:13, then all of this is for a purpose.
Pray that I will remember that when I talk to the folks about the bill…
One of my mentors used to often say, “It takes a lot of time to live.” I did not really get what he meant by that at the time. I was just out of the Air Force, living in a corner of his basement. I had no bills in the Air Force, the only one I had with him was minimal rent.
Aware
Last month I switched to a different internet service with the same provider. It was supposed to reduce my bill, give me faster speed, and simplify my life. One out of three ain’t bad. I have faster speed, Netflix works better. But, I have spent about 24 hours on the phone with them on technical issues. My billing rather than having one place to pay for all of the services online once a month has now apparently been returned to four individual paper bills that have different due dates. Additionally, I was not told of these changes and when I tried to pay my bill as usual last month I was told it was not ready. Since then I have paid one and got a nasty gram telling me that I owed more. If the bills are accurate they represent a 20% increase rather than a savings.
So I get it.
We live in a broken world which we are warned not to love, 1 John 2:15 – 17, but we do. We have to live and work in it. It is under the domain of the enemy and he delights in destruction. So what do we do.
Functioning in Grace
For me, this last month I did better. I prayed for the ability to show grace to the people on the phone, with the exception of one of those people I was able to do that. If it is the case that God is sovereign and he does not allow me to be tempted beyond that which I am able, 1 Corinthians 10:13, then all of this is for a purpose.
Pray that I will remember that when I talk to the folks about the bill…
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