Your Reboot Hinges on Real Reflections - #1

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and saw their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsfolk. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting; and he said to the one who was in the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?” He answered, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”

INTRODUCTION

BELOVEDS IN THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD OF COMPUTERS THE REBOOT IS A VERY IMPORTANT CONCEPT......IT IS A KEY

THING TO DO WHEN

TROUBLESHOOTING FOR ANY COMPUTER PROBLEM AT ALL.......WITHOUT GETTING OVERLY GEEKY AND

TECHNICAL, TECH AND SCIENCE WRITER ALEXANDER FOX ASSURES US:

During the reboot process, all of the computer’s logic is reset. This means that the CPU, memory,

controllers and peripherals all receive their reset commands and return to their boot-up states. By wiping

away anything that was happening previously, this reset can often fix problems by resetting things to their

“new” state. Of course, this doesn’t mean the problem won’t reoccur. But this fresh start often removes the

offending gremlin

ANSWERING THE QUESTION, WHY REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER FOR THE QUESTION ASKING SERVICE QUORA

ONLINE, GAURAV CHAUHAN…WHO SAYS HE’S A THINKER BY DAY AND A DREAMER BY NIGHT GOES ON TO SAY:

When you reboot your computer, all the processes which are currently residing in your RAM are wiped off,

the RAM is cleaned up and then the computer takes a fresh start. Fresh start means loading up the

bootloader program again and every further process is started again freshly.

AND BELOVEDS I CAN SURELY SAY TO YOU THAT WITH GOD’S MIGHTY BLESSING.....THE REBOOT PURSUIT FOR US

THIS JANUARY IS ABOUT YOUR NEW START......THE NEW STATE OF THINGS THAT THE NEW YEAR BRINGS.......IT’S

ABOUT STARTING AGAIN AND STARTING AGAIN FRESHLY......TO REBOOT YOUR LIFE IS TO SAY I AM GOING TO DO

THIS NEW BEGINNING AND DO IT WELL......I’M GOING TO RESET, LIKE MY COMPUTER DOES WHEN I

START IT UP AGAIN..........TO REBOOT YOUR LIFE IS TO SAY: GOD IS WELCOME TO COME IN AND FIX SOME

PROBLEMS THAT CAN ONLY BE FIXED THROUGH A RE-SET, A NEW PERSPECTIVE, A CHANGE OF MIND OR ANOTHER

HEART COMMITMENT.......

AND THE CLEAR CONFIDENCE TO REBOOT YOUR LIFE COMES FROM THE TWITTER INFLUENCER KNOWN AS MUFTI

MENK WHO TWEETED THIS POWERFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF RESOLVE AND STRENGTH:

DON’T BE AFRAID TO REBOOT YOUR LIFE MANY TIMES AND START AFRESH. BUT IF THE PROGRAM DOESN’T

INVOLVE THE ALMIGHTY, YOU’LL BE BACK TO SQUARE ONE IN NO TIME WITH NO PROGRESS BEING MADE.

MOSES MASTERED THE LIFE REBOOT EARLY

MOSES THE GREATEST PROPHET OF EARLY ISRAEL, THE SO CALLED LAWGIVER AND DELIVERER OF THE

HEBREWS FROM BONDAGE, SLAVERY AND EXPLOITATION WAS BORN IN A TIME WHEN AN EGYPTIAN DECREE WAS

IN PLACE......A DECREE THAT WOULD CHANGE HIS LIFE BECAUSE UNDER THAT DECREE HEBREW BABY BOYS WERE

BEING KILLED BY ORDER OF THE PHAROAH......THOUGH GIRLS WERE SPARED UNDER THE SAME DECREE....MOSES

BIRTH WAS KEPT SECRET AND EXODUS 2: 1-10

Exodus 2:1–10 NRSV

Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

LOOKING AT MOSES’ BIRTH STORY AGAIN IT WOULD NOT BE INACCURATE TO SAY PERHAPS MOSES FIRST LIFE

REBOOT HAPPENED WHEN HE WAS 3-MONTHS OLD AND HIS MOTHER PLACED HIM IN THE BASKET AND PLACED

THE BASKET IN THE RIVER ONLY TO WATCH IT FLOAT AWAY......

IN MOSES, IT’S BEEN NOTED, WE SEE A TENDENCY TO SHOW THE WORLD HOW HUMAN HE IS IN EACH OF THE

STAGES OF HIS LIFE THE BIBLE COVERS......WE SEE HIM DISPLAY ANGER, FRUSTRATION AND DOUBTS.....WE SEE HIS

DISAPPOINTMENTS AND THE THINGS THAT BRING HIM GREAT JOY......

AT THE TIME HE KILLED THE EGYPTIAN IN HIS LIFE WE ALL NEED TO PAUSE AND CONSIDER EVERYTHING THAT

TOOK PLACE AT THE SITE OF THAT DECISION....EVERYTHING THAT HAD TAKEN PLACE IN HIS LIFE TO THAT

POINT.....AND ALL THE WAYS HIS REAL REFLECTIONS IN THAT PIVOTAL MOMENT HELPED MOSES SEE WHAT HE HAD

NOT ALREADY SEEN, DO SOMETHING HE’D NEVER DONE BEFORE AND WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN AND MOVE

FORWARD FULLY ACQUAINTED WITH THE GRIEF, GUILT, SADNESS AND MOTIVATION OF THAT MOMENT FOR MOSES

WAS CHANGED AND WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN......THE BIBLE TELLS US IN EXODUS 2:11-14

Exodus 2:11–14 NRSV

“HE WENT OUT TO HIS PEOPLE” TELLS US MOSES WAS THINKING ABOUT HIS BLOOD FAMILY…THE HEBREWS AND

THEIR FUTURE PROSPECTS

“HE SAW THEIR FORCED LABOR” TELLS US MOSES WAS BEGINNING HIS OWN JOURNEY TO GRAPPLE WITH

INJUSTICE, FAIRNESS, PAIN AND OPPRESSION

“HE LOOKED THIS WAY AND THAT” TELLS US MOSES WAS REALLY REFLECTING ON THE PROSPECT OF TAKING

ACTION AND GETTING CAUGHT......HE SEEMED TO THINK HE WAS ALL ALONE IN THAT PIVOTAL MOMENT

THE NEXT DAY WE SAW HIM QUESTIONING A FIGHT BETWEEN 2 HEBREWS ASKING, “WHY DO YOU STRIKE YOUR

FELLOW HEBREW?” A QUESTION THAT WAS A REAL REFLECTION ON THE VALUE OF VIOLENCE.....

IN THE DISNEY PRODUCED FILM ON MOSES’ LIFE, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, MOSES IS SHOWN VOICING HIS FEELINGS

ABOUT THE WORLD AND THE CONDITIONS OF THE WORLD THAT MADE HIM KILL THE EGYPTIAN AND HE SAYS:

“ALL I’VE EVER KNOWN TO BE TRUE IS A LIE.......”

REAL REFLECTIONS ABOUT THE WORLD AT SOME POINT, IN ALL OUR LIVES, CAUSE US TO CONSIDER THAT THINGS

AREN’T ALWAYS AS THEY SEEM....AND YET, WE’VE STILL GOT TO GO ON....WE’VE STILL GOT TO FIND A WAY

FORWARD.....WE’VE STILL GOT TO SOMEHOW KEEP IT MOVING.....

HAVE YOU SPENT TIME THIS NEW YEAR IN REAL JUST YET? REFLECTIONS THAT WILL HELP YOU FACE FORWARD

AND LIVE OUT YOUR DESTINY? MOSES DESTINY AFTER THE KILLING, WAS 40 YEARS AHEAD IN THE DESERT OUT &

AROUND MIDIAN.....

HIS REBOOT WAS OUT IN THE WILDERNESS......

ANOTHER REBOOT TO CONSIDER

BELOVEDS, THERE IS ONE MORE REBOOT THIS MORNING TO REFLECT ON AND SEE.....AS YOU OBSERVE ALL IT’S

CONTOURS, MY PRAYER IS THAT THIS ONE WILL CONFIRM THE IMPORTANCE AND VITALITY OF REAL REFLECTIONS

AND THE NEEDS WE ALL HAVE TO EMBRACE THEM AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS NEW YEAR....

THE STORY IS TOLD OF RABBI YEHUDAH FINE, A FAMILY THERAPIST WHO WROTE THE BOOK, TIMES SQUARE RABBI:

FINDING HOPE IN LOST KIDS’ LIVES......HE WROTE:

LAST YEAR, ON A LONELY SECTION OF A RURAL HIGHWAY IN THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS, I NEARLY DIED. I

WAS RUNNING ERRANDS IN THE EARLY MORNING WHEN A CAR COMING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION

SWERVED INTO MY LANE AT 45 MILES PER HOUR AND HIT ME HEAD ON. IT WAS ON THAT ROAD WHERE MY

LIFE CHANGED FOREVER. IT WAS ON THAT ROAD WHERE I LEARNED TO DEAL WITH DAILY SEVERE PAIN AND

RECLAIM MY LIFE FROM THE BROKEN GLASS AND TWISTED METAL THAT LAY STREWN OVER THE BLACKTOP.

IT WAS ON THAT ROAD WHERE I TOOK SPIRITUAL WISDOM OFF THE BOOKSHELF AND DOWNLOADED IT INTO

MY LIFE. IF EVER THERE WERE A TIME TO FIND OUT WHAT SUSTAINED MY INNER CORE, THIS WAS IT.

I VIVIDLY REMEMBER LYING IN THE LOCAL EMERGENCY ROOM BEFORE BEING HELICOPTERED TO A BIG

MEDICAL CENTER. I WASN’T A PRETTY PICTURE. FIREMEN HAD PRIED ME OUT OF THE CAR WITH THE JAWS

OF LIFE. BLOOD COVERED MY FACE, TEETH AND LIPS, THE RESULT OF THE IMPACT WITH THE AIR BAG THAT

SAVED MY LIFE.

RIGHT THERE, IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM, I DECIDED THAT NO MATTER WHAT STRUGGLES LAY AHEAD, I

WOULD GIVE THANKS TO EVERY PERSON WHO ATTENDED MY BROKEN BODY. I WAS GOING TO HONOR EVERY

ACT OF KINDNESS WITH WORDS FROM MY HEART. BEFORE I WENT UNDER THE KNIFE, I TOLD MY WIFE HOW

MUCH I LOVED HER AND THE KIDS. I ALSO ASKED HER TO FORGIVE ME FOR ANY STONE LEFT UNTURNED

AND TO TELL THE KIDS THE SAME. WHEN WE SAID GOODBYE, I DID NOT KNOW IF I WAS GOING TO SURVIVE.

THE DOCTOR TOLD ME, “IN ALL MY YEARS AS THE MAIN TRAUMA PHYSICIAN, I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE AS

BADLY SHATTERED AS YOU. I THINK YOU’LL MAKE IT, BUT IT WILL BE TOUCH AND GO.”

BELOVEDS, I DO NOT WISH THIS TYPE OF BOLD FACED TRAUMA AS THE REASON FOR YOUR REAL REFLECTIONS AS

YOU REBOOT YOUR LIFE IN THIS FIRST QUARTER OF THE NEW YEAR.......I CAN SHARE WITH YOU THAT BEYOND THE

TRAGEDY THE RABBI SURVIVED......

AND HE TALKED ABOUT LIVING AFTER THE ACCIDENT WITH THE BLESSING OF LIVING EACH MOMENT WITH GRACE,

DIGNITY, WARMTH, KINDNESS AND COMPASSION......HE WENT ON

AND HE AFFIRMED THAT LIFE’S DEEPEST EXPERIENCE IS THE JOY THAT FILLS OUR HEARTS WHEN WE LOVE AND

GIVE TO OTHERS.......FINALLY, HE WROTE, “WHEN CRISIS EXPLODED IN MY LIFE, THE BEST IN ME WAS BORN. I

FOUND OUT WHAT I WAS REALLY CAPABLE OF. I DISCOVERED WHO I REALLY AM.”

THOSE ARE REAL REFLECTIONS, BELOVEDS........AND I PRAY YOUR OWN SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY AS YOU ARE

INSPIRED TO MAKE REAL REFLECTIONS ON YOUR LIFE AND LIFE’S POSSIBILITIES THIS NEW YEAR......

CONCLUSION

Allen R. McConnell, Ph.D., the James and Beth Lewis Professor of Psychology at Miami University, noted the importance of self reflection several years ago stating that it is also a necessary part of attaining goals, self-improvement and positive change. In order for change to occur there must first be awareness – a state of being that can come through self-reflection.

SO YOUR REBOOT IS PRECEDED BY AND THEN STRENGTHENED BY YOUR REAL REFLECTIONS BELOVEDS.....

AS WE SEEK TO GET OFF TO A GREAT START IN THIS NEW YEAR I WANT TO FINALLY SHARE WITH YOUR THE

BRILLIANCE OF THE GREAT POET THAT CAME TO OUR ATTENTION DURING THE INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT

BIDEN......HER POEM CALLED, “NEW DAY’S LYRIC” IS A BEAUTIFUL REFLECTION PIECE FOR THE NEW YEAR......THESE

ARE IT’S FIRST 2 STANZAS…AS I CLOSE:

May this be the day

We come together.

Mourning, we come to mend,

Withered, we come to weather,

Torn, we come to tend,

Battered, we come to better.

Tethered by this year of yearning,

We are learning

That though we weren’t ready for this,

We have been readied by it.

We steadily vow that no matter

How we are weighed down,

We must always pave a way forward.

This hope is our door, our portal.

Even if we never get back to normal,

Someday we can venture beyond it,

To leave the known and take the first steps.

So let us not return to what was normal,

But reach toward what is next.

NEXT SUNDAY JOIN US FOR THE 2nd MESSAGE IN THIS SERIES, “YOUR REBOOT IS STRENGTHENED BY GREAT