By Doug De Graffenried

I mapped out two simple tasks for Saturday.

Task number one was to trim the hedges in the front yard. They all look like planted versions of a Chia-pet. The task would not take long. I have purchased power tools that make this task a breeze. I was breezing along through the task, about to turn the corner from the east side to the north side of the house, when a complication arrived. The battery powered hedge trimmer suddenly died. I looked for obstructions, there were none.  I changed the battery. That didn’t work either. I sought out advice from the experts at You Tube. I found a video with a guy describing how to fix the same problem. He had my very model suffering from the same symptoms. After five minutes of watching that video, I decided I was not taking the thing apart. I developed a new strategy. On Sunday after church, I went to Lowes and bought a new one. As soon as I send this article to the nice people who publish it, I’m back at hedge trimming.

Task number two was to cook the steaks. That is always fun. No one bothers me when I’m cooking steaks. It is alone time that produces sumptuous results. I cheat! I have one of those wood pellet grills. The grill is so smart it is attached to my phone. I can be in the car miles away and instruct the grill to light and heat up to a certain temperature. If I use a meat probe, the probe reports the temperature to my phone. It is all technological.

Saturday, I went to light the grill.

The grill informed me that it needed to do a software update. How much software could a grill need? Has Microsoft discovered my grill and wants to install one of those infernal updates? The grill would not let me bypass the update.

While the grill was updating, I piddled with the plants in the yard. I looked at my phone to see how the grill was working. The update also applied to my phone. Suddenly, the grill app wanted the log in stuff. Do you remember the password you set two years ago for your grill app? Me neither.

I took care of the grill. While I cooked the steaks, I managed the password for the phone app. The relaxing Saturday had fallen apart by now. 

I cleaned the grill and seasoned the griddle I had also used for the steaks. I went into the peace of my study to finish working on the sermon. There it was, the end of a perfect day, Microsoft wanted to update the software on my computer.

I started wondering if Jesus ever had “one of those days.” After reading the gospels, I can answer, “Yes, He did.” The Bible tells us what he did. He went off by himself and prayed.

You might give that a try the next time you have “one of those days.”

Doug de Graffenried is Pastor of Trinity Methodist Church in Ruston.

You can contact Doug at dougsponderings@gmail.com