Friday Blog

Complicating the Simple

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3d printed ring

A few months ago the key fob that I carry to unlock the doors to our Buick Enclave started acting up. The buttons would stick down causing the lift gate to open or the alarm to go off spontaneously. After several attempts to clean the fob it became evident that I was going to need to replace it. After researching my options I discovered the key fobs for my model and year were NOT end user programmable. While I could buy the fob on Amazon I would need to take it to a locksmith (or worse, a dealer) to have it programmed. I consider myself a resourceful individual so I figured since the control board inside was fine it was just the button covers that were sticking, and it is the same shape and size as the original, I could purchase a new fob and just swap out the board. Little did I know that inside the battery contact setup was different - the new fob had a clip on the board to hold the battery but in the old fob the battery was secured in the case - making it difficult to swap out the boards. I did it anyway and tried to tape the battery in place with very limited success - the fob would open the doors one or two times before the battery would slip, losing contact so the fob stopped working. For the past two months I have been opening the doors with the key which triggers the alarm until the car is started. This has been very frustrating and I was coming to the conclusion I would have to give in and pay a locksmith to reprogram the fob.

A few weeks ago I received a phone call from someone in the mail room at work asking me if I 3d printed parts. A gentleman had walked in saying he had heard that "Southwestern Adventist University has a place that can 3d print parts" and they wanted to know if that was referring to me and the Innovation Studio. They sent him to me and after examining drawing of the part he needed I spent about 10 minutes in Fusion 360 creating the 3d object and exported it for printing providing him with exactly the part he needed. Faculty, staff, and students often come to me seeking assistance in creating something to solve a problem they have encountered. It dawned on me today that I could probably 3d print a solution to my key fob dilemma - a simple ring that would encompass the battery and the side contact to hold them together. Five minutes of design time, seven minutes of printing, and $0.03 in filament I had a solution that appears to have fixed my problem. I had lived with the malfunction for two months because I had made the solution more complicated than it needed to be!

I often do the same thing with God - He wants a simple solution but I seem to make it complicated. He wants me to trust, but I want to do. He wants me to let go, but I want to hang on. I think of the story of the rich, young ruler (Matthew 19, Mark 10, & Luke 18) where he asks Jesus "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" After Jesus quotes the law to him he replies "I have done all this since my youth, what do I still lack?" Jesus response was to perform a difficult but simple task - let go of everything that you place confidence in and trust Me! How much easier it would be for me if I quit trying to complicate things and recognized (and accepted) God’s simple solutions.

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