Skype unto others

Listening to: Kanye West (altho I think what he did to Taylor Swift was NOT cool)
“See I know my destination, but I’m just not there”

Now for those of you who know me, intimately or otherwise, you would know that tech support is the least of all my strengths along with painting and crotcheting of any kind. I can work a computer in its basics – I can send emails, stalk people on Facebook and charge my iPod.

That’s it.

Ask me to do anything fancy like write something in like Java Script (or whatever) or even like, hook up my PC and I’m like.. call a technician honey, there is a reason I did not enrol in computer science.

So it was to my extreme surprise when my aunty asked for my help to hook her up with Skype.. as in, the whole deal. Now that part was fairly easy I suppose, you just install a webcam, download the programme, install yada yada and bam! You’re Skyped in! So I agreed with minimal hesitation.

Now, it isn’t fairly complex if only you have good broadband speed. Please don’t ask me what that optimal speed is, all I know is whatever she had was the opposite of optimal speed.

Probably noptimal speed (i.e. not optimal).
Forget that, moving on.

It took us ages (3600 precious seconds) to download the program after many hangs and restarts and just when I thought we were at the last stage I almost died when I saw the words more than one hour to go.

After awhile we just sat there, my aunty and I, barely exchanging a word just watching with bated breath as the tiny green bars for installation creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeped on from one percent to the next. I literally grew old. It was like sitting in the land where time had stopped.

After I had turned fifty years old, I told her I’ll head back for lunch and come back once the more than one hour to go was down to you are now free to go.

She too, looked relieved at not having to stare at me staring at her computer screen. After I had gone home and was sufficiently fed for battle, I headed back to her place and finished the installation and taught her how to make a test call in preparation for the video call with her daughter in Australia whom she had not seen in two years.

Later that evening, the horrendous event of aging twenty years in twenty minutes sufficiently wiped away from my memory, was brought back to life when she called back and said they could not get video or audio!

Feeling slightly like an doctor on call, I grabbed my toolkit (well not really, just my wallet, keys and phone) and rushed out the door, slightly tremulous at the thought of having to sit for another two hours in front of the computer. The problem however required only a slight settings change and within minutes we had successful transmission.

When I saw the way my cousin was crying when she could finally see the aged beloved parents she had not seen in two years, my own heart swelled with emotion and I knew – all my hours of whinging and premature aging, was worth it if only to see how happy it made them. My aunty hugged me fiercely in thanks and I knew then, I would have gladly done it all over again.

This episode comes at a very opportune moment because it ties in with something we were discussing at our Young Alpha discussion group last week.

We had to discuss the topic of generosity and how difficult it can be to give sometimes. However, if it is true that everything we have comes from God, then if we are open to sharing with others all that we have (responsibly), then we become like open vessels which is then free to receive more from God.

The bible says that giving has a threeway effect – giving joy to the giver, the recipient and is pleasing to God. I could see how giving is good for the person receiving it and of course God is naturally happy when His children share with one another but was a little unclear as to how it would give any obvious joy on the part of the givers themselves.

As grating as it was to die a slow death at the hands of low broadband speed, the hours I had spent at my aunt’s place slaving with what little IT skills I had, was repaid in full when I saw the joy that I had played a part in giving them. It was worth it, and I would do it all over again. Not only was giving my time rewarding to them, but it was rewarding for me too.

All I had asked was how, and God showed me in a matter of days. It is true, giving gives joy to the giver, the recipient and to God.

How humbling is it to know that all we have to do is ask from our God and He gives so openly and yet how distressing it is when we are unable to give, that which is not even ours to begin with, as openly with others?

And you guys, my more experienced IT comrades who do this on a daily basis, helping people connect with each other – God bless you guys, for as small a part as you may think you play, you may be the one person standing between a child who has not seen her parents for years, who has the power to change that.

So go, give and get connected already!