Authentication Failed

Over the weekend, I decided that I needed to get back to my commitment to take better care of myself. Although a little out of sorts on the outside and the inside, I put my exercise gear on and walked down the hallway to our exercise room. The room has a treadmill (my weapon of choice) and an elliptical (Kayla's choice). It also has a TV with a satellite connection to make the experience a little more enjoyable. As I psyched myself up, I hit the remote to find something that could keep my attention for 45 minutes--that's quite a challenge on most days. What I got was a scrambled picture not even distinguishable and a blast of sound with a little blue box in the corner that said "Authentication Failure - card damaged" Call customer service and indicate error code 722. I thought wow this is serious. The computer geek in me has seen this message before with a blank, blue screen and it is devastation.

OK that was all the excuse I needed, the workout would have to wait. I had to fix the TV. I called customer service and got an automated message that asked me to confirm my telephone number. I did that. They asked me to choose one of the 4 options. I chose technical support. I did that. They asked me if I had an error code and I said "yes". They asked me to key it into my phone. I did that--722. This automated voice said "one moment please". I waited.

I was amazed within seconds this automated being from afar had beamed into my exercise room TV and reset the satellite. It took only seconds. The picture was clear, the sound was perfect and there were no more excuses for me not to proceed with my workout.

My amazement with this process continued as I began my workout. I thought this is how swift, clear and amazing our God is. Our picture of life gets scrambled and our interpretation gets distorted. We call Him for help through prayer. He beams in, authentication fails, he resets us and instantly it is all clear. As complicated as we beings of the flesh think we are, God knows all of our authentication failures and the codes to fix each one instantly--not complicated very simple. Of course, we must ask ourselves how many people actually know how simple and effective it is to make the call? Amazing similarity, isn't it?