Someone once made that statement to me referring to my brain! They were just kidding (I hope!)

A small cassette recorder recently ended up in my possession. It was brand new…the price tag was still on it. I put batteries in it. It didn’t work. The recorder had been sitting in the box for two or three years. I thought the rubber belts had hardened and maybe one of them was broken. Next, I took the back off. All the belts appeared to be on and in one piece.

Well, that just about exhausted my expertise. Since childhood I’ve even been kept from handling wheelbarrows. Seems I didn’t know much about mechanical things! Get it? Wheelbarrow – mechanical things?

I have an ace-in-the-hole. For more than twenty years, one of my good friends, Wayne, has bailed me out. 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 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 didn’t check the pause switch. I put batteries in it. I pushed the play button. I just didn’t notice that the pause button was on!

What’s the life lesson in all this for me? Well, it seems to me that with most of us, when something goes wrong with our lives, we 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 announced that the answer was “neither”. He 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 terrible to have something adverse happen in our lives. Certainly, any believer would want to see if God was allowing an adversity in their life in order to help them grow. Others of us see a devil behind every single bush. Nothing could be our responsibility. Yeah, it’s the devil makes 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’re too eager to feel horrible 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 WW III) in three seconds or less, CHECK THE PAUSE BUTTON! 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. Don’t dust a light bulb with a twelve pound sledgehammer!

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