Work

So my work is alright. My job title is Desktop Support Specialist. Thankfully I am lucky in the fact that my job title explains very little of what I actually do. Essentially a Desktop Support Specialist sits at a desk taking second and third level help desk calls; proceeds to get up from the desk when moves and jobs which require a presence are sent through and then continues the rest of the day sitting at said desk.

Thankfully, even though much of my work is at my desk, it is great. I am given the opportunity at the place I currently work at to sit at my desk and develop programs, web sites; look into new technology, chat with my co-workers and pretty much do anything. I am blessed.

So I have been working with PDF’s a lot recently. In particular a site that pretty much has a few drop-down menus that have folder names. The site picks up the folder names each time a value is changed in the previous drop-down list. It works really well except all the data is on an external drive (don’t worry too much, it’s running on a gigabyte link) in the office. The site walks flawlessly except for the fact that if there are heaps of users on it it runs a little slow.

Now the other day there were some complaints about the speed. This got me thinking down a few avenues of thought as I tend to do. First thought was “How dare they. I have been slaving over making this page for months and it is great. It has better features, better functionality and is just plain better… how dare they.” Now this probably sounds valid. But is it really? I mean if the product/service doesn’t work well then why would someone use it. Just as in this situation, how am I going to know there is a problem unless people tell me.

Unfortunately my boss sent an email out before letting me know that there was a problem. (All fine though. All got sorted) This however got me even more angry. The remainder of the afternoon I sat at my desk filling with more and more rage and anger towards everyone.

Now first problem is that there was a problem. Second problem was the way I handled the problem.

I have been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Cost of Discipleship” over the past few weeks. This book is amazing. It talks a lot about obedience to Jesus and the love of Jesus. It’s a really great book and I have been enjoying it’s many many challenges. One thing that was getting to me in this current situation was that I was feeling rage and in turn revenge. Bonhoeffer writes a lot about the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-8) talking about revenge and it got me thinking about Jesus and what He suffered on the cross. That He was put through all that shame and pain but He didn’t open His mouth against His persecutors. What amazing patience and love. I had people who were saying things that weren’t even directly against me but He had people spit on His face and yell abuse at Him. How things are put into the correct perspective when Jesus is in the centre.

Obedience is important. Love is important. Even in my job where, when I think about it, I spend the most time in my week, I have to be so careful. We are called to be above reproach. To be obedient to Jesus and to follow His example. To ask for help and strength from the Father. This is not small key stuff.

I also thought, imagine I went to work burning with rage and did something crazy like punch someone in the face. Not only would I get fired and be charged with assault, but the people I work with know that I am a Christian. I tell them because it is important for them to know. If they see me do that, how does that make Jesus look. How is that showing the amazing change Jesus has made in my life. How is that making Jesus look. WE ARE TO BE ABOVE REPROACH!! That is the old man. The man that has been changed. Human emotion’s are tough because they are us. They are our nature and our being. But God has given us the Holy Spirit who is able to give us self control. How great is our God to give us Himself to help us in our walks.

So God is good. Work is good. The past few days have given me great insight to how and why I care so much about what other people think. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to fold like a piece of paper everytime someone says something bad or nasty; that is just sad. But, I will pray hard for the strength to know what is wise and obedient in the context of the world.

Motive, Morality, The Bible and Harry Potter

Okay, so it has been a while since I blogged. My apologies to you all. It has been a very busy couple of months.

So I was surfing the Internet during my lunch break today and came across this

Now this is kind of, very loosely good. It’s great to see that Harry Potter has shown people some kind of moral light into what is wrong with the world.

There is however a problem. Well several problems in fact… (or opinion). Harry Potter is a great collection of books. I have read the first two and I have seen all the films. I think they are great. So there is nothing wrong directly with the books or films. The problem is is that we have had the Bible for centuries and it has been giving us instruction on how to live properly and rightly in accordance with what God (our Creator) wants. So the problem I am having with this particular group mentioned in this article is that they are getting their reason and direction for making good choices from a fiction novel.

Seriously, what is going on? Am I the only one that is completely outraged that this group is making their motive a fictitious wizard. He is not some kind of endless source of wisdom. This group is trying to find satisfaction and reason to making good choices in a lie. You cannot bring fiction into the real world. Fiction belongs in imagination and you definitely cannot raise a fictitious character up to the massively untouchable place of our Heavenly Father. No one has the right or the power to do that.

Another thing; how can people find more reason for morality in a fictitious book when they have truth staring them in the face. When they have a perfect factual account of history to tell them “Hey wait a second, that’s not right. You should do this.”

Politicians are Dumbledore. They try to make moral choices and make the world a better place. They try to help. But they fail. All men fail. We are cursed by sin and have only one way out. To follow Jesus. To be obedient to Jesus. To know that Jesus died and because of His death and coming back to life, death has been defeated and our sins forgiven and we have the chance, the massive epic chance to be with God. To be back where we were meant to be from the beginning. With GOD!!!

When are people going to realise that there is nothing satisfying except for Jesus. The absolute clarity that the Bible gives us to the problems of the world and the ultimate solution. It is so clear and true. It is so helpful and comforting and all-satisfying. Why do people keep trying to reach for the stars or find some truth in the latest craze or conjure up imagination to try to validate existence when the truth is known and believed by millions of people around the world?

I have just come to the decision that in the next few blog entries I will be doing a History of the Bible. I will look at multiple sources to find out how exactly we got the Bible so that people can see how it all fits together and is truth.