The CASE of the Hard Drive

In my last post, I wrote about my hard drive problems and the frustration of technology. This is an update, I'll share more of my problems.

My 1TB hard drive was inaccessible due to the fact that the usb plug broke from the external case. This pushed me to go online and purchase a case to be able to read the drive. Finally, after a week of waiting, it arrived. I was happy. However, on the way home, I looked at the box and my heart sank... it read: "supports SATA hard drives up to 750GB"!

I felt like crying!

Of course, I didn't open the box. I returned the hard drive and went back online to order the correct adapter. Now I wait again!!!

Will I soon be able to access my files???

~Matt

Losing my DRIVE!

Okay, with the title... I couldn't resist.

Lately, technology hasn't been treating me very well. You can say I'm not too happy with it. Even though my life actually depends on technology, I hate it when it fails.

Last week, I was doing some projects and needed to backup some files from my laptop to clear up more space. I plugged in my 2 terabyte hard drive that I had bought in April and it wouldn't show up. It has everything backed up on it. I had planned to organize everything and then back it onto DVDs. Well, that wasn't going to work. IT showed up on my computer as a mass storage device, and every time I tried to initialize it, I'd get a "failed" message.

I was soooooo frustrated and feeling sick to my stomach. So, I brought it into work to see if the Mac would recognize it. Nope. Same thing. Just a USB storage device that needs reformatted! Yikes!

As I was looking at the drive utility, I noticed that my work's computer drive had a red check by it. It was notifying me that it's external hard drive was failing! What? No way!

I called the IT department, and they said I needed to back it up and let them ship it in for replacement. Unfortunately, they didn't have any way of backing it up for me. :(

I went home that night and decided to see how much space I had available on my 1 terabyte that is designated for my media (movies, mp3s, etc). Sure enough I had room. But as I was plugging it in, the usb plug broke on the case. I tried  fixing it.... nope, didn't work. I was so frustrated.

In a nutshell, I found my self to have an un-formatted 2TB external hard drive that needs to be recovered, a 1TB external hard drive that I can't access, and a failing hard drive on my work computer!

Thankfully, tech department was able to let me borrow a SATA usb adapter for my 1TB hard drive, and I was able to back up the files at work. They took my work computer away to send it in, and I'm now working on my personal laptop to get my projects accomplished. I ordered a SATA hard drive case that would take several days to come in. I hope to soon be able to try to recover the files from my 2TB hard drive.


More frustration to come though...........

~Matt

Moses and the Bronze Serpent

A few weeks ago, I taught a lesson to the children in the Wednesday evening services. I brought my puppet/friend Ace to help me as I told the Bible story. I have found that having a puppet helps me explain in a level the kids understand. Ace brought a rubber snake, and the Bible store unfolded from there....

The lesson was on Moses and the bronze serpent. I admit that this is not the easiest story to teach and get the point across to the kids, but one that I believed was important. The past several lessons had been on signs, so this worked perfect!

The entire lesson dealt with faith and trusting the Lord (Numbers 21:5-7). After leaving the bondage of Egypt, the Israelite came to the border of the Promised Land. God was willing to give it to them. However, after the reports from the spies, their faith failed and they wouldn't trust God to defeat the giants in the land. It wasn't too long that that the people fell into unbelief and they murmured for being there, forgetting that it was due to their sin. God allowed fiery (poisonous) serpents to enter their camp due as judgement, causing death to those who were bit. The people turned to Moses who went to God on their behalf. God told Moses to create a serpent of bronze and hang it on a pole. The directions were simple. If bit, look upon the bronze snake and live. It was a test of faith.

As I explained to Ace (and the children), it was a simple healing. They didn't have do anything special. There was no great task or ritual. They didn't need to make an antidote. They didn't have to do any procedure. Just one simple act: look and live.

The serpent symbolized sin and judgement. A curse. Jesus himself said that the serpent on the pole was an early representation of him (John 3:14). It's hard for us to think of our Savior that way, but he took upon himself our sin, and was the curse in our place (Galatians 3:13). He became sin for us so that we can become righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21).

So the same applies to us. We don't have to go through a great task or ritual. We don't have to make up for our sins by doing good deeds. Christ is our Salvation. A simple act of faith... look and live!

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As a side note, I also pointed out to Ace (and the children) that we often see God's symbol even now. Take a look at an ambulance or hospital. You see the "Star of Life". 

I didn't go into detail on that subject though. Just making the reference. The Star of Life is taken from the Greek deity Asclepius and his rod (associated with healing and medicine). But his rod may be linked to the Moses' bronze serpent, called The Nehushtan by the Hebrews. Remember, many things copy the original! Anyway, this could be a study within itself... ;)

Yes, I often get really involved in my studies!!!
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 ~Matt