The Modem

Modem:–noun1.an electronic device that makes possible the transmission of data to or from a computer via telephone or other communication lines.
–verb 2.to send or receive information, data
To all you much more technologically savvy friends, you already knew this definition. I had heard the word tossed around several times never giving it much thought since my husband is my very own "go-to man" when it comes to anything techie. Typing I can do. Surfing I can do. But reconfiguring or rebooting or re-anything is way out of my area of expertise. And so, I didn't really understand a modem's use or it's importance. Until it stopped working. So now you know why I have been off-line the last several days. My husband has been out of town and I was home with a broken computer.

I cannot even count the number of times I attempted to connect to the internet. Last evening, after much long-distance coaxing from my husband, I even tried to unplug lines and re-start the computer. Then I finally gave up on the methods I had tried and I called for help. Did you know that the Time-Warner cable technical support team was just waiting for me to call? Emily, the precious tech, pronounced the diagnosis right over the phone! She thought the modem didn't work. She was right. The cable worked. The computer worked. But the little electronic device that transmits incoming and outgoing data had seen it's final day. Therefore, even with power, the internet was inaccessible. I only wish I had not waited for days to call.

I've experienced this before. Oh, not with the cable. But with my own faith walk. Maybe you have had these times yourself. Times when you desperately try over and over to reconnect. Furiously attempting to create a breakthrough. Knowing full well that there was a problem. But not wanting to give in to defeat. All the while slipping deeper and deeper into "the mud and mire". Allowing our heart to harden slowly, becoming less sensitive to His prompting. What I have learned, mostly the hard way, is that I should just give up. Call for help. Those of you who know our Savior know what I always re-discover. God Himself, the God of the universe, has been waiting for me to call. Waiting to lift me out and "set my feet" back on a rock, giving me a "firm place to stand". Waiting to transmit His forgiveness and mercy through my own little modem, a heart now ready to receive.

Oh gracious Father, forgive me when I am slow to call out to you. When I continually try to do it on my own. And yet, when I do cry out to You, You respond. Thank you for answering my call. Always.

Psalm 40:1-2, 17
"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand."
17 "Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay."

Praise HIM!