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.
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