Hang in there!

Do you remember cassette tapes?  Over a period of some thirty or so years, I accumulated a collection of over 100 of them ... and that’s after giving some away!  In time, I changed to CDs for my personal selection of recorded music that I can play to myself any time I like.  Long ago I bought two matching sets of drawers, some fitted out for tapes and some for CDs, to house these next to my stereo.  More recently I realised that the drawers were no longer fashionable, and anyway, they no longer housed a currently supportable means of providing a musical background to domestic life.  I obtained a cupboard to replace the drawers for the CDs.  

But I was still left with those tapes!  I didn’t want to lose them for, despite their low intrinsic value, many would be difficult or even impossible to replace.  I decided that they would have to be transferred to my computer.  I bought a unit from one of those catalogues that fall out of magazine deliveries, and set to work.  It was a tedious business.  Once the software had been installed, each tape had to be listened to in real playback time, and the extent of each track noted.  Then the tracks had to be isolated and labelled on the screen before they could be finally saved.  After completing only six tapes, I gave up, and the unit lay unused at the back of a cupboard.  When I changed my computer’s hard disk, I didn’t bother about re-installing that particular program.

What I really wanted was something that would just soak up the data, rather like a scanner soaks up a photograph, and - plop! - there it is on the computer with no more effort than the click of a mouse.  Last summer, I saw something that looked just right, and at little more than half the cost of the redundant unit in my cupboard.  It arrived bright, shiny and smart, and full of promise.  I set to unpacking it and setting it up beside the computer.  Then I installed the software.   Oh, no!  It was the same program I'd had before!  I should still have to go through that same painstaking process if I wanted to preserve those treasured recordings!

It was about then that news broke of the inner city riots and, like many people, I marvelled at the looting, the greed, and the something-for-nothing culture that seemed to be motivating at least some of the young people involved.  Instant gratification has become part of normal life today, whether it is the acquisition of goods, or seeing a whole project completed in ‘the click of a mouse’.  My prayer notes directed me that morning to James’s letter:  “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming.  See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.  You too, be patient and stand firm ... As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.  You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.  The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”  (James 5:7-8a,11.)

So, it will be worth it after all!