Day 5 & 6: When the Hard Drives Crashes

Most of us have probably experienced it.  We go to turn on the machine, having a list of things we need to accomplish, information that needs to be accessed, emails that need to be returned, documents that need to be sent, and there is nothing.  We turn the computer off and then turn it back on and nothing. We unplug it and then plug it back in – and still nothing.  That’s when we begin to panic.  That’s when we say things that should not be put into print.  That’s when we cry and stomp around and call customer service and demand that somebody fix our problem.  That’s when we threaten to throw the whole thing out the window.

Eventually you come to grips with the fact that the hard drive has crashed and it doesn’t matter how much time you spend trying to figure out what happened, what you could have done to avoid it and whose fault it was that it happened in the first place, what you had is gone and it’s not coming back.  Once you come to grips with that, then you can decide what it is going to take, and what it is going to cost, to get back on line. 

Crashed hard drives are a huge pain, a massive distraction and a real momentum killer.  But here is the deal, staring at a broken machine will not fix it – being mad at the machine will not fix it – and blaming everybody you think is at fault” is not going to fix it!  It needs to get fixed and the quicker it gets fixed, the quicker you can get back to business. 

We had our first “hard drive crash” of the new launch.  Some back bills from the new site appeared.  The cost of these bills was extensive and a utility shut of was imminent. Nowhere in our budgeting for this launch was this large of an expense accounted for and there appeared to be little margin in our existing funds to address the situation. 

I admit, for a minute I sat and starred at the “broken machine.”  I cursed at it, tried to assign blame for it, went over and over how I could have prevented it and then was poised to just throw the whole thing out the window.  But then I realized that none of that was going to get us back “on line” and back to doing the work we have been charged to do.

So tomorrow morning I am meeting with key leaders (never try to fix the crashed hard drive on our own….a future blog post I am sure) to figure out what it is going to take, and how much it is going to cost, to get the machine back up and running. 

Here is the deal – at some point in our ministries, the “hard drive” is going to crash.  We are going to walk in one morning to a mess we hadn’t planned on, don’t have the time to address and don’t have the money set aside to fix.  But being mad, assigning blame and waiting for someone else to fix it – won’t get it fixed.  We have to fix it, make the adjustments, figure out the costs and get back to work.

Hard drives can be fixed and they can be replaced – but they won’t fix or replace themselves.  And yes – they will cost time and money – but they can be fixed. 

What problems in your ministry setting are not “fixing themselves” and what can you do to get them fixed and be “online” making disciples for the transformation of the world?