iPod Sync

"Sync"-ed

I have an iPod Nano.  On it is uploaded a series of songs, a playlist I listen to when I run, a series of podcasts, everything from Ravi Zacharias, to "Things I Missed In History Class," and a number of messages from a pastors' conference at Moody Bible Institute.  On numerous long drives I've enjoyed the company of my I-pod.  It is always attached to my arm when I am running, whether in a 5k or just taking a trip through the neighborhood.

The other day it hit me how much I was learning from my iPod.  I'm not referring to what I'm learning from all the authors, speakers and sermons.  I'm not referring to the lyrics of some of the incredible worship music.  My iPod has been teaching me in a different way.  I've been learning from how it works.  Not the electronics (though I have had to change the battery), but from how it keeps itself up to date.

Most times when I need to recharge my iPod, I plug it into my laptop.  As soon as I do, iTunes pops up, connects to my iPod, and automatically does a sync.  "Sync" is short for synchronize. When you sync a device, you synchronize it with data on your computer. It updates both the device and the computer with the most recent information.  Data is merged in a real time interface.  If a message or song has been added to my computer, it gets updated to my iPod.  Podcasts that have been listened to on the Nano are removed.  The only time this fails is if I break the connection before the sync is completed.  My iPod even warns me not to do this.  It flashes a message "sync in progress, do not disconnect."

There's the lesson.  Huge isn't it?  The perfect example of what it means to connect with God occurs every time I recharge my iPod. 

I want to be in sync with what God wants to instill into my life and to have what is of no use removed.  Every time I connect with God I should expect that he is going to be uploading new messages for me, but he is also seeking to remove other things.  My iPod teaches me that there are two ways to goof up the process of hearing from God.  First, I can neglect connecting, never getting recharged, never receiving updated messages from God.  The second is to break the connection before the sync is complete, not allowing God to do what he wants to do in my heart and my life that day.

When I see my iPod it reminds me to be sure I'm getting connected and letting the sync take place. 

How's your sync?  Up to date?  Current? Recharged?

The man in the window

 

Bruce D. Rzengota
Norwalk Alliance Church

Prayer is not preparation for the battle, it is the battle.

Questions?

Every leader asks questions. The nature of the questions shapes the leader. What are the questions contemplated in your heart? At this point in my life, in my calling, in my role, I've been struggling with a few. The same ones keep surfacing time and time again. The first one opens the door to so many more.

What does it mean?

What does it mean to want God's glory and not your own?

What does it mean to be all things to all men and yet work only to please the Lord?

What does it mean to be LIGHT when most of the time I avoid the darkness?

What does it mean?

What does it mean if I drive by a funeral and don't wonder about the person's fate?

What does it mean when I count my days and know there are more behind me than are likely to be ahead of me?

What does it mean when I remember that one day I will stand in his presence and give an account?

What does it mean?

What does it mean that I have claimed his name, read his word, shared his truth for thirty-two years and yet still battle with sin, toy with apathy, and get distracted so easily.

What does it mean?

What does it mean that I have been cleaned by grace, set free from sin, empowered with gifts, called to purpose?

What does it mean that I live where I do, surrounded by specific faces—specific lives, specific needs. What does it mean?

What does it mean that I am supposed to lead? What does it mean?

What questions are shaping you? As for me, I am haunted by the ones that begin, "What does it mean?"

 

The Man in the Window