MacBook Mishaps


For almost eighteen years, I’ve owned an Apple MacBook Pro. This laptop has helped me create newsletters, music, and videos for my ministry. My current Mac is almost four years old. I’m desiring to upgrade to a newer one soon. It has showed signs of wearing down. For example, the Touch Bar occasionally flickers like a strobe light.

Usually, I look forward to doing software updates on my electronic devices. They are supposed to improve performance, but that doesn’t always happen. A few months ago, the Music app stopped working on my iPad after updating the IOS. So I brought it to the Apple Store. A Genius Bar employee suggested resetting my iPad. That didn’t fix the problem. I still had to reinstall all my deleted files and applications. The Music app finally worked following another update a week later.


Over two weeks ago, Apple released a new macOS called Sonoma 14.4. After installing that on my MacBook, a spinning wait cursor (also referred to as a beach ball or “the wheel of death”) repeatedly came up while trying to type documents or upload photos online. Since this hindered my productivity, I made another trip to the Apple Store. A couple of employees suggested various solutions. I decided to have my Mac reset. Not long afterward, the battery started having charging issues. 


I contacted Apple Support and made an appointment with MicroCenter. The next day, an employee there informed me it would cost $40 for them to examine my Mac. That really disgusted me since that’s where I bought my Mac. Immediately, I left the store and drove to Experimax. Previously, they had replaced ports that malfunctioned two years ago. I suspected that might have been the problem. The manager performed tests for free and determined the software got corrupted. She offered to reinstall the IOS but would charge $59 for that. 


I opted to make another trip to the Apple Store. The Genius Bar employee ran a diagnostic test and claimed the battery needed replacing. That would have set me back $249. I later noticed a system report on my Mac showed the battery was in “normal” condition and had gone through 434 cycles (they’re supposed to last for 1,000). By that time, I did another reset and had to wait six hours to get my laptop back. The employee who returned it suggested the logic board could be going bad.


The next day, I spent several hours online at Panera Bread dealing with what appeared to be a failing battery. I reset the laptop myself instead of going to the Apple Store again. Eventually, my roommate texted me to see how things were going. I had informed him of my frustrations of repeatedly updating the operating system and reinstalling apps. I was almost ready to trash my Mac and never buy another Apple device. He offered to pray for me. Soon, I noticed my laptop started working as if nothing was wrong.


All this reminded me of an incident that happened almost thirty years ago. A man I met through an evangelism outreach invited me to do some recording at his house in Rochester, Minnesota. One day, we had recurring problems with the sound equipment. It wasn’t until after we prayed that we found the solution.


Modern technology can be a blessing, but it's frustrating when devices don’t work like they should. Instead of getting upset, we should pray for God to help us. He always works things out for good.


“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” - Philippians 4:6

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