Testing Your Faith

It's amazing what tests your faith these days. Technology, for instance, is a wonderful and challenging way to test one's faith. And so it is with me. Saturday morning, I received a call on my cell informing me that in the process of regular computer whatnot on my office desktop, my computer "crashed". Now, it's important for everyone to understand, I do not hold the person responsible. First, he's far more computer savvy than I; and second, it was one of his routine check ups, as he's the head of the technology ministry at our church.

But alas and alack, the computer has crashed, and because of someone ongoing spyware or something or other problem, I had not logged off the network for several days. You may or may not understand the severity of my problem. Not only am I not able to work on my computer, the files, documents, and organizing I've done on my desktop over the last week are now threatened with extiction on the same level as the Dodo.

What does this have to do with faith? Good question.

My answer: everything. Why? Because you need to know how I responded - because how I responded (and continue to respond) is something of a direct commentary on my faith in God.

Having been informed Saturday morning, it was far less stressful coming in on Sunday morning, knowing that I was going to have to scrammble. I still had some finishing touches to put on the powerpoint slides for our Preworship. I'll admit it; I was stressed. It was not the way I wanted to start out my Sunday morning.

However, it did make me more attuned for my need for worship. Worship is about focusing on God, giving Him the praise and the glory, of putting my problems in the perspective of eternity. There was part of me that just wanted to sneak upstairs to the Upper Room and crash on a sofa. But those temptations aside, my soul was in need of what only worshipping the One, True God Almighty can offer. My perspective was at least partially restored.

I'm sitting here on a dreary, wet and cold Monday morning, typing on a computer in the church's copy room. Not ideal, one could say. I say, I can't wait for my office computer to get fixed, but until then, Praise the Lord that we have an extra computer that I can jump on until then.

In the mean time, Praise the Lord. For even the testing of one's faith through technological terrors can draw us closer to God. And if that's the result of the testing of our faith, then the test was a success. What do you think?