Someone once made that statement to me referring to my brain! Well, what they actually said was, “Papa J, keep your head in the game. In life, little things mean a lot!” They were just kidding (I hope)!

A small cassette recorder was recently donated to our ministry. Hey, this was different from “used” rice! (See past “Inside Out”, dated May 8th). The recorder was brand new…the price tag was still on it! First, I put brand new “pink bunny” batteries in it. It didn’t work. I’d been told that the recorder had been sitting in the box for two or three years. The thought occurred to me that maybe the rubber belts had hardened and one of them was broken. Or, perhaps a belt had slipped off one of the drive wheels. Handyman that I’m not, I took the back off. All the belts appeared to be in place and in one piece.

Well, that just about exhausted my expertise. Since childhood, I’d never even been allowed to handle wheelbarrows. It seems that people generally, instinctively realized that I didn’t know much about mechanical things! Get it? Wheelbarrow – mechanical things?

However! When problems arise that I can’t solve, I have an ace-in-the-hole. For twenty years, my good friend, Wayne, has bailed me out. (Don’t even bother asking for his E-mail or snail mail address. He’s mine! I won’t share!) Everybody needs a “Wayne” in their life. He has more patience than just about anyone I know. I called him and asked him if he’d take a look at the recorder. He agreed. I dropped it off. A little while later, he called and asked me if I was ready to come and pick it up. When I asked him what was wrong, he asked me if I’d ever checked the pause switch. The pause switch? I’ve used these little machines for more than 35 years. I’d put batteries in it. I’d pushed the play button. I’d taken it partly apart. I’d looked for bad belts. I’d looked for missing belts. I’d looked for every kind of problem I could think of. One thing and one thing only I HADN’T done. I hadn’t looked to see if the pause button was on!

When it comes to figuring out why our lives aren’t working the way they’re supposed to, it seems to me that most of us immediately suspect the worst. We’re a little like the disciples who were with Jesus when He came across a blind man. They immediately wanted to know whether the man was blind because of his own sin or the sin of his parents. Jesus replied, “neither”. The man was blind “so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (John 9:1-41)

We too often assume that we must have done something really terrible to have experienced this lack of proper function in our lives. We often automatically believe that God is disciplining us rather harshly because of the magnitude of our offense. We assume a lot of things before we ask God a simple question: “why” are the inner workings of the tape recorder of our life not working properly?

One would think that the FIRST thing we would do is ask God if we’ve sinned or if we’re being used to display the power of God in our lives. I would think that any believer would also want to know if God were allowing a negative circumstance to enter their life in order to test their faith (Job) and help them grow.

Too often, I’m afraid, we jump to conclusions (the only exercise some of us get on a regular basis). We see a devil behind every single bush. We can’t be held responsible for whatever comes into our lives. Yeah, it’s the devil made us do it! That way we don’t have to make any changes, exercise good judgement, or learn from our mistakes. Still others of us beat ourselves half to death with instruments of self-destruction. We hide behind a bottle, pills, food, physical and emotional abuse. We’re far too eager to assume the oppressive mantle of guilt about everything that goes wrong.

While there is an element of truth in all the things I’ve mentioned so far, let me offer a helpful suggestion: Before you go from the top line to the bottom line (minor skirmish to World War III) in three seconds or less, CHECK THE PAUSE BUTTON! The solution to your problems may be as simple as sliding the button in the opposite direction

What are the Life Lessons
in all of this for me?

• First, see if there is some little thing that’s out of whack and can be easily fixed. Not everyone needs twenty years of three-a-week intensive therapy sessions — especially if the problem involves a hangnail.
• Try to keep the problem in perspective.
• Don’t panic.
• Don’t believe or expect the worst.
• Finally, in words you and I can probably understand: Don’t dust a light bulb with a twelve pound sledge hammer!

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