You see that 100% at the top corner of my phone?
More than once last week I wondered if I would ever see it again!!
Around a month ago my phone stopped charging properly with my charger. For a week it worked well with a different cord, but then would stop strangely. After charging fully overnight, it would refuse to charge that afternoon.
This led to a panic! Followed by some basic solutions
- Buying a new charger and cord
- And then using another charger when the newer one stopped charging strangely a few weeks later
The point is I knew the problem was more serious than a charger and cord, but I kept using short-term fixes.
And the thing about short-term fixes is eventually they no longer work!
Wednesday morning, I woke up to find my phone after charging all night had only reached 73%. Thinking maybe it was just charging slow I kept it plugged up while going to prison ministry. When it was still at 73% after returning, I knew it was a serious problem.
Wednesday through Friday were EXTREMELY STRESSFUL as I tried to find a permanent fix to my phone problem by
- Cleaning out the charging port on Wednesday
- Changing the battery on Thursday
- and purchasing a new Apple charger and cord on Friday
- Finally on Friday evening my phone started charging properly
And during those three days of drama more than once I said to myself, “I could have saved myself a lot of stress by fixing the real problem right away!”
Life brings many problems that can be cured with a quick, short-term fix. These fixes are what I refer to as “band-Aids”. But occasionally we experience problems that need a deeper solution (what I refer to as surgery).
Often those problems demanding surgery involve hard work and added stress, so we just put on a band-Aid, and go on with life. But eventually the band-Aid will no longer work, and we will be forced to do surgery (often with intensified stress).
Three days of dramatic stress have taught me an important lesson.
You will have to fix the real problem eventually.
So put away the box of band-aids, and get out your scalpel.
Johnhwilburn.org 