No Treo!

February 10, 2005. After extensive research, interviews, and yes, even prayer, I made a decision that I considered to be fairly significant. I went to my Verizon store and purchased a Treo 700w, making the big jump to a smart phone. I felt pretty confident about my decision and was excited to use and understand my new major purchase. It was only a matter of days, however, that I began to question my decision. Too many days for me to return the phone without penalty, but not enough days to justify its poor behavior.

I won't go into all the problems that I experienced, but let's just say that I was on a first name basis with several members of the Verizon customer service team after regular phone calls to them lasting anywhere from 20-120 minutes each (which, despite all my frustrations, I have nothing but the highest praises to give them). I met Nic, a helpful and efficient customer service rep training for the national tae kwan do team and the next day I tried to encourage Sarah, another rep in his office, to go meet Nic because he was really nice. (She tried to tell me that I didn't talk to Nic, but spoke with Mario, and I explained to her that although that was his official name, he likes to go by Nic. It's amazing what you can discuss with a complete stranger across the country in a 2 hour conversation.)

Even after receiving a new replacement phone, I have still been extremely unhappy with the performance of my little Treo. I tried to see what my options were yesterday and was told that I can wait until December 10, 2007 to get a new phone or pay $430 for a new one in the meantime. I left the store sad and frustrated, and yes, confused.

I prayed as I left, asking God why I was in this kind of position if this phone purchase was something I prayed about in the first place. Did I hear wrong? Was it silly to pray about a phone decision? Am I over-spiritualizing things? I even talked about it with my mom, and she encouraged me to press in a little more about it.

It seemed like God challenged my thinking to get beyond my perspective in the situation. I thought this was a bad decision, a mistake, a regret. Maybe, His most important priority when He was directing my steps was not my satisfaction with my phone purchase. Maybe He wanted me to cross paths with Nic or Sarah or any of the other customer service reps I met, and He knew that the best way to do that was to buy a phone that I like to refer to as the bane of my communication existence.

And maybe I am just overspiritualizing things and trying to console myself in my poor decision. But at the very least, I will thank God for the opportunity to meet Nic, Sarah, and the rest of the crew and pray that He would continue to work in their lives and help me survive the next 10 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days until December 10 is here at last. :-)