A few blogs ago I mentioned that my computer had died.. I believe it was the 2nd day in Romania, when it officially croaked.. Okay folks, brace yourself. I am writing this blog on my new computer. It’s a PC. Hold up, hold up, hold up. Did Hannah Olsen, avid Mac lover, say she bought a PC??? For those of you who don’t know me very well, I LOVE Macs. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I would always talk about my Macbook and how much I love it and I would always tell my friends to buy Macs. Always. Whenever they would be using their PC I would be like “Shoulda bought a Mac….” It was probably really annoying of me. I even once joked that one of the characteristics I wanted in my future husband was Mac User. Basically, I was the biggest Mac snob ever.
Well, the day after my computer died was one of the most stressful days ever. I really didn’t know what to do. I talked to my mom and she really wanted me to get a replacement computer. She knew without one I would probably hardly ever post a blog and rarely make contact through email or skype. I had pressure to make the decision that day because Dan and Becky from Aagpe8 were flying back to the US for a wedding and offered to bring me back a new computer. But I needed to order it that day to ensure it would arrive on time. These thoughts ran through my head the next few hours: Should I get a new computer? Could I live without one for the next 9 months? If I get a new computer, what should I get? A PC? Heck no! Why would I want one of those? A new Mac? Oh, the new Macs are so pretty. Hum, they cost $900……well, I could put it on a credit card right? How much was the mini HP again? $350…..But, ugh!, it’s a PC….Why would I want to spend $350 on a PC when I could put that money towards a Mac? I knew that the most practical thing would be to by the mini HP computer, but I could not get over the fact that I would no longer be a Mac owner.
I talked it about with EVERYONE around me. I think my teammates probably wanted to punch me in the face at some point. But it was in one of these conversations I had a revelation: Does owning a Mac give me a better a relationship with God? No. Or does owning a PC hurt my relationship with God? No. Then what does it really matter? If someone gave me $1,000 right now would I put into my World Race support account? No, I would spend it on a Mac. I realized in that moment that I cared about what computer I owned way too much. It’s just stuff. What I use to type my blogs on or store my pictures on does not matter at all. Not in the least. I honestly thought I really wasn’t that materialistic. After all, I am on the World Race living out of backpack, I don’t have attachment to things. Yet, deciding to buy an HP mini netbook was seriously one of the hardest decisions of my life. And that’s not right. I was such a Mac person that it had even become part of my identity. Part me felt like if I got a PC I would losing a piece of myself. And how crazy is that? Its just a thing. I shouldn’t define myself by what I own, I need to be defining myself in Christ. Its just so unbelievable the things we stake our identity in. As you know from other blogs God is continually breaking me of EVERYTHING I used to define myself as, including Mac lover. I’m not going to lie, I still miss my Mac. But when I finally got my baby HP computer I was excited. And I am enjoying getting know this little guy.
