On a recent cool Fall morning, I had worked on my laptop finishing up a project. I went to shut down my PC, and I had problems turning it off, so I did a forced shutdown. Concerned that something just wasn’t right, I rebooted it and the first of a series of screens I had never seen before appeared. The first screen was titled BitLocker.
I considered myself somewhat computer savvy, but BitLocker? What in the world, sounded like a brand of chewing gum? I have battled a lot in my life, from broken down cars on the highway to a family of squirrels in our attic, but just how do you tackle a BitLocker problem? After some online research, using my phone, it turns out that my PC wanted a 48-character recovery screen ID from Microsoft. What? More research, finally I found where to access this mysterious ID. I confidently entered it expecting immediate gratification.
The result? Another screen saying it couldn’t connect (to what?) and to wait 30 minutes and it would try again. So, I patiently waited 30 minutes, then the same screen fast forwards another hour and still nothing, just wait another 30 minutes.
Then I get the final message, a message of doom, the system declared itself “Unrepairable.” And I, a man who’s faced down tougher foes than a stubborn machine, felt utterly defeated.
It did give me the option to power it down, so I waved the surrender flag and turned my laptop off. A while later just for kicks, before I headed to Best Buy to buy a new laptop, I turned it back on. This time it fired right up perfectly, no problems, no issues.
And yet, in the middle of this digital wilderness, I found something deeper than frustration. I found a life lesson. Because isn’t life just like that sometimes? We feel locked out, by grief, by fear, by circumstances we didn’t choose. We stare at life’s blank screens and error messages, wondering if restoration is even possible. We question our memory, our worth, our ability to fix what’s broken.
As the psalmist reminds us, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14) Even when life’s screen is black, even when the world says “unrepairable,” God is still working behind the scenes in our lives. And sometimes, the miracle is just a reboot away.
I hoped my laptop would come back, and by a fluke, it did. But in life, our hope runs deeper than a lucky restart. As Christians, we are never without hope, because our trust is not in systems or circumstances, but in a Savior who never fails. Jesus Christ is our living hope, our unshakable foundation. Even when life doesn’t reboot the way we want, we can rest in the assurance that He will provide, sustain, and redeem.
So, if you’re feeling locked out today, by fear, by grief, by uncertainty, don’t give up. Wait on the Lord. Be strong. Take heart. And remember: the Author of your story is still writing . . . and He’s already secured the ending.
John C. Perry is the Lay Leader with New Life Methodist Church. They meet every Sunday at 9 a.m. (Bible Study) and 10 a.m. (Worship Service) in the Salado Middle School at 1169 Williams Rd.
