The Laptop

In August, 2010, I started back to school to get a bachelor's degree in business. I had decided to take online classes from Athens State University and, for the first semester, my old desktop computer was fine. Unfortunately, toward the end of the semester, they did a system upgrade which severely handicapped my access to the program. Although a nontraditional student, I am just as broke as any traditional student can be so going out and buying something new, or even used, is out of the question.

My nephew is a computer geek and a magnet for computers, so I talked to him about what I needed and showed him the system requirements on the school's site. "No problem," he said. "I have an old laptop that I was going to put on eBay, but you can just have it." Wonderful! However, he said he needed to work on it a bit before he gave it to me because he had cannibalized some of the parts, or memory, or something computerish. At least I had one on the way, so I patiently waited and limped through the rest of the semester.

Just before the next semester started, I still didn't have a laptop. My nephew meant well, but he had decided that the computer he was going to give me wouldn't work and he was going to build something for me. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking.

That's when I started praying. I really needed a laptop so I could take the courses - or I was sunk. It needed to be a laptop because that way I could take it to work with me and still get my assignments done or turned in on time. We have only one vehicle, so sometimes I would have to wait an hour or so before being picked up from work. Having a laptop meant I could continue with assignments instead of wasting time just hanging around. I was tempted to panic, but chose to trust instead. The Lord had a week to provide.

The day before classes, I was on my old desktop checking emails. I was trying to close gmail, but my computer was getting hung up and it wasn't going anywhere. Suddenly, a little window popped up in the email chat feature. It was my nephew and he wanted to know if I still needed a laptop. He had just been given a box of computer parts and, offhandedly, they asked if he could use a laptop. He started to say 'no', but then he remembered me. I wasn't expecting much, but if it would work then bring it on.

I am now typing this on a practically new Toshiba Satellite! Classes were so much easier to access that I felt like it has truly been a life saver. I am thankful to the Lord for making my nephew, Josh, a computer magnet and providing just what I needed when I needed it.