Thursday, April 25, 2013

God Trusts Us


Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones.” (Luke 16:10)
God implicitly trusts us with many responsibilities as we live out our mortal lives.  Some of them will be obvious to us, such as parenthood, careers, friendships, all stemming from some of the most important relationships we have.  However, sometimes we have to remember that He trusts us with all kinds of things, even the not-so-obvious ones.

The best example I have of this right now comes from my workplace.  We just recently stared down the throat of a lion, and the lion decided it was better just to leave us alone.  Working in the  software industry, sometimes we come across "show stopping" changes, sometimes they are bugs, sometimes they are software features that "got missed".  Our project is 1 week away from being production ready.  A show stopper showed up at our doorstep earlier this week.  God trusted me to handle this issue with integrity and dignity, hopefully I made him proud.  We've decided on a 2 step process.  We'll put in a quick fix now, and then follow up with a more in depth solution once our original solution is successfully seated in our production environment.

I slipped up a little bit while dealing with this show stopper, because I forgot to open my ears and shut my mouth.  God helped me get through the whole situation, though - and gave me the strength, courage, and wisdom to keep the team members I'm leading from having to deal with significant overtime and / or a missed deadline.  I also thank God that the project manager on the project helped us to mitigate any major scope explosions, as it could have easily turned into that.

Compared to dealing with a family health situation, dealing with a conundrum at work is simply one more test that God trusted me to pass.  Dealing with the family health thing was a little bit anxiety riddled, too - but it is now behind us as well, and His strength did not fail to see us through it.

I'm sure there's lots of little things I don't know about that God trusts me with. Thank God for His trust in all things.

Monday, April 15, 2013

God is in Boston

Something really bad just happened.  Be warned, some of the imagery on that link is a bit graphic, so don't go there if you've got a weak stomach.  For those who have not yet heard, an apparent act of terrorism has taken place in Boston, taking place during the Boston Marathon.

My prayers go out to those that were injured, those that were witnesses, emergency responders, and everyone else that will have direct or indirect involvement with regard to this tragedy.  Our government once again needs God's direction to know how to react to the situation appropriately.  Family needs God's hand to talk to their loved ones, and mourn losses, appropriately.  At a moment like this, I hope that our nation turns to God.  For, I know He is present and working hard in this aftermath, even if right now the situation seems the worst of cruelties.

On a more specific and intimate level to my life, I can speak of a near tragedy that turned into a miracle.  I eat lunch with a student every week at a nearby elementary school.  He got really sick at the beginning of this year, badly enough to get airlifted by helicopter to a specialty hospital.  His road to recovery will take time, but God has His hand in the recovery.  For, even though he got so sick, he also got some desperately needed attention in the form of one-on-one education.  In the three months between the time I last saw him before he got sick, and the first time I saw him after his illness, his academic ability increased significantly.  Some people call that a silver lining.  I call it God.  While it may seem silly to point out an event specific to my life during a national tragedy, I find it a compelling story similar enough in nature to this one to remind everyone God can do work here.

I know God is present to make this kind of things, and many other miraculous ones, come out of such a horrendous event.  I do not wish to downplay the tragedy that the massacre certainly was, and is.  However, I do hope everyone remembers, God is present, there, too.  Take a moment to pray for the victims, whether directly or indirectly impacted.  And, remember, we're all people - and all of us hurt when something this terrible happens.  Now is not a time for hate to blossom, but instead to remember to find a way to love.

Saturday, April 6, 2013