Check the Mains

Recently as I was setting up to record a podcast I encountered some trouble. I was having trouble with my computer and the mics.

I won’t bore you with the details of my highly technical podcast; nonetheless, I was getting very frustrated as I struggled to make everything work correctly.

You’ve been there haven’t you?

Everything is in the right spot and it’s just not working.

You go back and double, even triple check your work and… nothing.

I called in one of our college students to help. Not just any college student mind you, Grant, the guy who works with lights, sound and all sorts of stuff.

Surely Grant could figure it out.

After checking my work (why did he even bother) he came to the same conclusion. “Everything looks right,” he said, “It should be working.”

I felt vindicated on some level. I wasn’t crazy! Or worse, incompetent.

But the question remained; why isn’t it working?!

After 10 minutes worth of tinkering, computer restarts, and plenty of thoughtful “hmmmms” Grant blurted out, “Oh! Haha.”

Not what I wanted to hear.

“Check your mains.” He said assuredly.

Everything was seemingly in its proper place with one little exception. The microphones we were using were not in the main spot, they were in the auxiliary.

After that slight adjustment everything went perfectly and we were ready to go.

Embarrassed and only slightly thankful I muttered, “Thanks Grant, nobody will hear about this, right?”

Grant laughed and was on his way.

As I think back on that whole thing I can’t help but laugh a little.

We had everything we needed. All the equipment, all the tools, everything was assembled and in good working order.

The big problem was we were not plugged to the proper source.

How often does that happen in life?

We have all that we need, the right tools, the right people and we’re ready to go to work. But for some strange reason things aren’t working.

What’s going wrong?

May I kindly suggest you learn from my mistake? Take a moment and “Check Your Mains.”

Jesus talked about lots of important and worthwhile things, but the thing He kept coming back to was love.

Paul reminds us of this in 1 Corinthians 13 when he writes:

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Great teaching, worship, hospitality, excellent services, great videos, and all that stuff only matters if the we’re plugged into and doing the MAIN THING.

Great sales, slick advertising and real know-how doesn’t matter if your customer service stinks.

Knowing the right people, being seen at the right places and saying all the right things is flat out wrong if it’s for an ulterior motive.

So, when you sense your frustration mounting. When everything seems right but your not getting the right results.

Take a moment and check your mains.

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