Having too much pride or confidence will cause one to make mistakes that lead to a setback or failure. The phrase is adapted from a verse in the Book of Proverbs [16:18] in the Bible: “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” – -Idioms.thefreedictionary.com
I had intended today’s note to chronicle an experience I had with a young man in a hoodie. In that story, while on a walk, I met a young man who appeared to be lost. He was wearing a hoodie and was otherwise significantly too warmly dressed for the heat of the day. I was going to tell how God led me to stop, to turn around, and to give him directions and the bottle of water that I happened to have with me. I was to proudly proclaim how this led me to become more aware of people that I saw standing on street corners who were asking for money. I would give them a bottle of water and a note in an envelope that said, “God bless you today.” The envelope was to include a ten-dollar bill. However…
However, it didn’t work out that way. I am impressed today to take painful note of the irony in my telling that story (to which you might have replied with a sympathetic, “Aw, wasn’t that sweet?) Such though is not the case. Instead, I must write a little about a big subject – pride, precisely – my pride.
The verse from Proverbs cited above states the case altogether. I can testify to its veracity. For several weeks, I have been sitting in on a Sunday school class via Zoom. I decided that I could help host the class technically, and I offered to do so. The class president graciously took me up on the offer.
Last week, the class meeting proceeded reasonably well from a technical standpoint, except that a couple of members were inexplicably unable to join the meeting. This week, and not to be outdone, I knew that I was better than a couple of exclusions. Nothing short of 100% admittance would be acceptable. Thus, I made technical adjustments – just a few “tweaks” to my system.
The “tweaks” grew, magically, into a PowerPoint presentation – complete with maps. Further, I schooled myself on importing chat data from MS Word to assist with the lesson. Frankly, my dear, I was rather proud of myself.
Enter Pride. (Actually, enter the consequences of pride leading to its full blossoming.) The vanity was “lurking at the door” from the very start.
Today’s Sunday school class meeting was an utter disaster. Absolutely no one was able to “Zoom-in” – not the president, not the secretary, “no not one,” nada, zilch, nippo, nairn!
Though I worked feverishly for 35 minutes trying to reset, all erstwhile participants still got the message that the system had rejected them from my class meeting, not admitted, not “qualified” – “verboten” – access denied.
Ultimately, Zoom forced to call the class president and admit defeat. I sent the president and several members of the class an email stating that I was very sorry that I had been unable to get Zoom working and that I was extremely embarrassed (which I was.) Above all, I feared (and still do) being “fired” as the zoom technician.
Do you see the problem with this story? Do you understand the inappropriateness of the pat-on-the-back “Hoodie Story?” Should we count the times the word “I” was used, we would run out of digits on both hands and both feet. The conclusion obtains that “I” have entirely missed the point, or as our British friends would say, “lost the plot.” The exercise’s whole point was to put forth a Sunday school lesson about an incident in the life of Jesus from which we could take an example. Unfortunately, and as John Belushi would say as a Saturday Night Live character, “but noooooo,” the point for me became whether I could adequately operate Zoom. So, how do you spell Pride anyway? Today I would spell it Z o o m.
After I had cooled down, having stewed through the entire online church service over which I had no control, I found the check-box that I had erroneously checked in the calm of the afternoon. It was the “little, teeny, tiny, teeny, tiny (Gilda Radner”) check-box that caused the problem. Without a doubt, we will resolve the issue this afternoon and check out the system. There probably will not be a technical problem any longer.
It remains to be seen as to whether they will fire me as Zoom technician. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, that question is of no importance to any of the class members. Still, it remains essential to me. I take it as a matter of personal pride.
While I am being “personal,” may I add my personal paraphrase of Proverbs 16:18? “Pride goeth before a fall, [and great pride doth goeth before a great fall.]” (Does anyone hear a loud “thud?”) Perhaps, even in my stewing over my prideful condition, I am displaying my prideful nature all the more.
Surely though, you have never had this problem. Have you?
As I am praying over you and your ministry tomorrow (yes, I will put this incident behind me and “find the plot”), can you spare a moment to pray for me that I will get over myself and let the important things be the essential things? Here’s a thought, someone could email me a “Get over it, man” note. I’ll reply with a “thumbs-up.”
So let it be written, so let it be done.
johnthebaptist15 