Incompatible!

I am a very good Methodist. I ordered my brand-new Book of Discipline almost as soon as I could. I waited with eager anticipation to receive it. I decided to ecological and get the CD-ROM version, which also includes the Book of Resolutions - and I don't know anyone who gets excited about that one! When it finally came today I had to restrain myself from opening it until I got home. There it was! My brand-new 2008 Book of Discipline!

I turned the box over to read all the wonderfully over-inflated descriptions about what it contained. And then all my excitement was deflated. It listed all the operating systems on which it would run: Windows, windows, windows, windows. I have a Mac. ugh. Because I had made a decision 2 years ago to buy a Mac I could not enjoy my new Book. (Under copyright laws, if I remove the outer plastic covering, I cannot return it - only exchange, so I didn't bother to "try-and-see".)

Sometimes things in life seem that way - incompatible. we make decisions along the way that we think are right only to be left wondering later on, "Did I make the best one?" In this case, yes, I made the right one. I love my computer - we've been through quite a bit together. I don't understand what the UMC and Cokesbury has against Macs. (I plan to ask tomorrow.) Yet, I can relate to making decisions I thought were right at the time only to question them later.

Sometimes life is incompatible. We meet the right person, but the timing is all off. We get a call from God, but there is work to be done first. We find the dream job, but the experience needed isn't what we have at that time. The CD-ROM just won't run. I trust that God is putting a nudge in us at those times of incompatibility. God says, "Try a little harder; go another route; I have something in mind for you." I like to think that God is asking me to respond. So, I will call Cokesbury and see if it will run on a Mac or if they will send me a hard copy of The Book. I will try a little harder because I know that nothing will separate me from the love of Christ... and the UMC!