Keeping Cool

          Oh how spoiled we have become in today's world!  Or at least I have become!
          One of the blessings of living in Lancaster County is the fact that we have four different seasons, each of which has a beauty of its own.  And I love each of them, except for those days when the summer becomes brutally hot and humid.  The humidity here can be very oppressive. When I went to Florida State, it was hot but not humid like it can become here. But air conditioning provides us with a way to get through those tough times.
          On Sunday we came home from church and I sat down at my desk to work on the church financial records.  Suddenly I realized that it was getting warmer than usual.  I went to the AC controls and was shocked to find that the temperature was 78.  I reset the AC and went back to work.  An hour later it was worse and I checked again.  Now it was 80!  So I did some investigating and discovered that while the fan was running, the compressor wasn't and nothing I could do got it to work.  
          We have an annual contract with Lefflers, so I called them.  They said they could send a repairman out within two hours. but since it was a Sunday, we would be charged about $130 for just the diagnosis.  I asked what the charge would be on Monday and was told that there would not be one because of our contract with them.  I quickly decided that for $130 we could "suffer" for 24 hours.
          Now we do have a window unit for our enclosed porch so we spent the evening there in comfort.  When it was time to go to bed we saw that the outside temp had dropped from 87 to 78, so we opened up the windows, turned on the fan, and went to bed. .... just like we used to do before AC.  And we were comfortable and survived.
         As I thought about it I realized that my parents never had AC in their house except for a couple of window units late in their lives.  On very hot days I used to sleep on the living room floor right at the screen door to the side porch.  Sometimes there would be a breeze there ... and, of course, I was 60+ years younger then. But I survived.
         When we were married we purchased window fans which we ran to pull in the cooler air from the outside.  Later we bought a window unit for our bedroom, but the boys had to survive with fans.  We lived that way for the first 30 years of our married life, and we survived.  
          I don't remember when we had our first air-conditioned car.  Growing up, AC was a luxury in cars so most of my life we drove with the windows open to catch a breeze while traveling.  And, again, we survived.
          But living and sleeping at home wasn't the only challenge.  For about 30 years I taught on the third floor of an old building. My office was also there. Above was a flat roof.  I was on the morning sun side.  In September, October, May and June my classroom and office were already in the low 90"s when we began the day and the temperature never dropped.  And there was no cross ventilation at all. I was usually soaked with perspiration by lunch and sometimes had to even change clothing. For years I tried unsuccessfully to get the district to install a large exhaust fan that would provide some moving air.  They always said it was too expensive.  But then they never had to work or study in such conditions since the offices were air conditioned.  They did allow us to purchase a floor fan for each room.   But, I survived (not sure about my students, however).  Oh yes, my last nine years I  had an air conditioned classroom and office.  It was great!
          As I've thought about it I have been reminded of how things have changed and how we've come to depend upon them.  Modern technology, vehicles, appliances, homes   have all changed the way we live.  And we've become dependent upon them.
           So what happened to our AC?  Well the technician came and found that the circuit breaker on the compressor kept clicking off, so he knew there was a short somewhere.  When he opened the unit he found that a little black bug had crawled into one of the contacts and shorted out the entire unit.  He scraped out the bug and showed it to me.  Then he hooked it up again and the unit started.  Now we are back in service once again, but without any charge.  And that's "cool"!   
            It is amazing what a little bug, the size of an ant, could do to a big compressor.  I guess there could be some really good life lessons there.  So often little things create problems in relationships and we lose our victory and joy.  Lord, help us to avoid those little things that can create major problems in our relationships.   May we learn to keep our cool!