The Moral of the Story

Cindy Trane Christeson

‘God is not in need of anything, but all things are in need of

him.’ -- Marcianus Aristides

I don’t know a great deal about computers, but I know I use my

computer a great deal. In fact, I use my computer almost every day.

I use it to e-mail my daughters, other family members and friends. I

use my computer to write reports and papers. I use my computer to write

this weekly column. I use my computer every weekday for a service I

provide of sending brief e-mails of encouragement. My computer greatly

simplifies my life, that is, until I have a problem. Then it complicates

it to no end. There must be a Murphy’s law of computers that says, “If

you have a computer, it will bomb.” The addendum must be “Your computer

will bomb on the day you need it the most.”

I once heard someone say, “To err is human, but to really mess up

requires a computer.” I agree. Fortunately I have a good friend named

Steve who is a computer genius with a compassionate heart, and he has

rescued me frequently from a computer gone wild. He calms me down, he

tames the machine, and I’m back in business again.

My most recent computer problem wasn’t caused by hardware, or by

software. It was caused by a floppy memory on my part. Often when I leave

town, my editor, Nancy, needs to clarify something about my column and

she has patiently tracked me down several times. When we took my

daughter, Amy, to college, I called to check my messages to make sure

everything was clear in the column. Not only did I leave something out, I

left the entire column out. Apparently I sent her an old column that had

already run, and she wondered what to do. So did I.

Fortunately I had my computer with me, so I told her I’d send the

correct one, which I did.

When I came home a few days later, I set up my computer and sat down

to send out e-mails. But I couldn’t find the power cord and my computer

quickly announced that it was running on reserve energy, and needed to be

plugged in soon. I couldn’t find the power cord anywhere and couldn’t

remember where I’d left it, though I assumed I had left it in my

daughter’s room or my hotel.

After several phone calls, it was still nowhere to be found, and my

computer was in no way working, so I quickly called the manufacturer to

have a new one sent.

It took two days for the cord to arrive, and I almost hugged the

deliveryman when he handed me the package. I plugged my computer in,

turned it on and it almost seemed to hum in a way to thank me.

I sat back and looked at the black box that had so much potential, but

couldn’t function without being plugged in to its power source. I’m

really the same way. My batteries run down and I don’t function well when

I don’t stay connected to God. He’s my ultimate power source.

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks

frequently to parenting groups. She can be reached via e-mail at

cindy@onthegrow.com or through the mail at P.O. Box 6140-#505, Newport

Beach 92658.