System Feedback

I had two jobs in the course of my college career. The first was a job that I think most everyone should have at some point. I washed dishes at the school cafeteria. A lot of people would rather work the register or the salad bar, but I wanted to wash dishes in college. It was a kind of rite of passage for me. I didn't even use the fancy sprayer and the big washing machine. That was for the guy who washed cups, plates, and silverware. I was the one working the pots and pans sink by hand. Scrub-a-dub-dub. My favorite part was cleaning out the lettuce slicer. That was always a challenge.
The other job I had during college was working as an A/V technician for the school. Every chapel we had (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) there was tech involved. If there was a campus event, there was tech involved. There were so many things that required not only PA systems, but lighting, and projection that we had to keep a crew of 4-6 students trained to work these events at all times. We didn't all work every event (though there were a few that called for all hands on deck).
I loved the work because it involved planning, putting together fantastic (and at times powerful) systems, and a lot of thinking on your feet. It was hard work with some very late nights, but it was also a lot of fun and generated a wonderful community of techies.
Over the course of my four years as a techie I learned a number of things, but possibly the most profound element was learned during my technology training the year before I became a techie.
It was the spring semester of my freshman year in 2007. I was a worship arts major at the time, and as such I had the privilege of taking a class on technology in worship. Basically it was the purpose of tech and how to set up and operate sound, lighting, and projection systems for a worship setting. That class is where I fell in love with the sound board which I once saw as monstrous and intimidating. It was also there that we learned and practiced the following lesson: "out" goes to "in" from the source of the sound all the way through the system to the presentation of the sound, and we must never, EVER patch things in backwards.
If I hadn't taken the class and lived that life for the next four years I probably wouldn't understand what that last sentence even said. "'Out'? 'In'? What are you talking about?" Let me explain.
Setting up a sound system is just a matter of taking a sound from its source--for instance a voice--and sending it through cables through a series of pieces of equipment that adjust the sound signal and ultimately to either a recording device or a  speaker which allows people to hear the altered form of the sound. You speak into a microphone which is attached to a sound board that controls volume (among other things). The sound board is connected to an equalizer which makes sure you get neither a muddy rumble nor a high pitched shreeeeeeeek (you know, the one everyone blames the sound guy for). The EQ is connected to an amplifier that adds power to the sound signal so that when it gets to the speaker it can be loud enough for everyone to hear.
Each of those elements--mic, board, EQ, amp, and speakers--has both an input and an output, and when you connect them you have to make sure that the output from one is connected to the input of another. In doesn't go to In (nothing will happen) and Out can't go to Out (that's how you break stuff).
Even if you do get all the outs and ins lined up right you still have to make sure that each element is set up in order from source to presentation. My friend learned this the hard way during his class final.
For the worship tech final we were given all the elements we needed to setup a sound system, and we simply had to set it up. By this point in the term I was fairly comfortable with the equipment and the order of things (though my instructor docked me a few points for using unbalanced cables...which I'm pretty sure he told us in class were perfectly viable options when patching a system together). My friend, on the other hand either got the order confused or simply wasn't paying attention to which ins were connected to which outs. Instead of connecting the EQ-out to the amplifier-in, he connected the amplifier-out to the EQ-in. Remember, the amp is there to add power to the signal. When you amp up the signal and send it through speakers you get a rockin' concert. When you amp up the signal and send it back through the EQ you get a dead EQ. That's right, my friend blew up the equalizer while taking his final. We never let him live that down.
What was a painful lesson for my friend was a powerful lesson for me, even in my every day life.
My life is like a sound system. I was designed to work one way, and one way only. I am to have one source of life--God, and if I am not patched in to that source I have no life for myself and I have nothing to offer others. Sometimes I can get my ins and outs confused, as though God needs me to provide him with life and plans and stuff. All that happens when I try to send a signal back to God's microphone is... ... ... It's pointless, and I become useless. He is the source of all good things.
There are also times in my life when I get not only my ins and outs confused, but I confuse my source. I can find myself trying to get my life and my purpose from other people and other things which is ultimately like running a signal back through the amplifier into my system. I can burn myself out by trying to find my power and energy and identity in the world around me.
My system was designed to work one way, and one way only. When I live with God as my source, with his voice and his life flowing through me I am able to live out my purpose with all the energy and joy that He provides. More than that, as His voice flows through my life others will be able to hear it through the way I live and the words I say. I get to share his message with the world around me.
It isn't that God needs us. If there was ever someone on the stage of life who didn't need to use the microphone to be heard, it would be God. Yet He chooses to use us, to involve us in His work. We just have to recognize where our source is and make sure we keep our system properly patched in to Him.