INCONVENIENCE.
During the communion part of our worship yesterday one of the men talked about Convenience vs Inconvenience. He spoke about having certain conveniences which allow him to fast forward, jack up the speed of playing a video or of simply skipping over what he doesn’t want to watch. His application was appropriate in that he brought it down to the inconvenience of Jesus dying on the cross for our convenience of confessing our sins and being forgiven.
That has got me thinking about the same topic only in a different setting. Several months ago I went to Fresh Thyme and used my debit card and was denied. So I tried it again and ditto. I was confused because I knew I had plenty of money in my account, especially for the amount of purchase I was making. So I checked it and found that someone had hacked into my checking account and had written a check for over $2000 to a credit card company. First, I have no credit cards. Second, I never heard of the company he used my account to pay for. Neither had the bank which I consulted with immediately to dispute the charge. (His payment was denied. I wish I could have been a little birdie to hear what he had to say when the credit card company said his payment was denied. Then again…maybe I don’t). The inconvenience for me was that I had to close that account, open another and alert all those whom I pay online with that account that it closed and give them my new number. Finally, I was done! Or so I thought…
This past week, an app that is on my computer (and probably yours as well) decided that they were going to renew a charge for the next year. Like of the $100+ variety. Without reminding me that the charge was coming. I got a call from the fraud department (yeah for them doing their job) and I denied the charge. Unfortunately, the bank was unable to stop it. I will have to deal with that. The worst part is…you guessed it…they shut down my debit card. I had to get a new one, all while traveling over the weekend. I’m still waiting. AND I had to go through my bills to make sure any accounts that used my debit card for payment were alerted. What a pain! A necessary one, but it was still a pain. It was an inconvenience, especially when traveling out of state.
Inconvenience seems to be the lot for most of us from time to time. I mean, I’m glad for the bank refusing to pay for fraudulent use of my checking account. The inconvenience was worth it I guess. I’m also glad the fraud department questioned me about two charges-one I approved (Amazon) and the other I refused (but was too late). Inconvenience is part of life. Mine were minor compared to some. Whether it is something like my experience or something bigger (and there are tons of examples I could give), how we react to them shows the character we have. I was frustrated, for sure, but I also had to remember that my attitude when dealing with people tells a lot about me. Don’t kid yourself into thinking people don’t notice how we react to situations. They particularly take note if we are a follower of Jesus.
Don’t look now. Your attitude is showing.
