Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

The Epistle of James 1:2-4 (MSG)

Well, there it is. 

It would have been helpful to remember this verse recently. One of the benefits of things like computers is the way they test our responses to “challenges.” Technological difficulties for people like me who operate on a modest scale can send us from zero to hysterical in a flash.

Recently my blog began loading slowly. Slooooowly. Over a minute to access a link. Initially I just hoped it would heal itself. “Heal yourself,” I said. It didn’t. Cluster migraines (unrelated, but tiresome) interfered with my ability to move past denial. 

Past denial was the next plane – Worst Case Scenario, wherein it was sure to be a fatal flaw. All my material would be

• corrupted
• eventually inaccessible
• lost forever

Eventually I contacted someone local who had (somewhat) patiently guided me through previous woes. She would get back to me. She didn’t.

In desperation, I called my husband’s nephew in Texas. Daniel is married, owns a real estate brokerage business, and has three children. He is busy. But he knows a lot about computers.

I sort of calmly explained my plight. In his calm and comforting voice Daniel asked a few questions then took me step by step into my sluggish website. Almost immediately he asked, “What about your plug-ins?”

Plug-ins? Yes. Code is the language of computers. Plug-ins are nifty add-ons that, without your knowing code, make it possible to add functionality and/or new features to your website. However, they can also be described as “foreign“, eventually weighing down a site.

Which mine was. I let him do his work and he started methodically down the list, plug-in by plug-in. Keep this one activated, deactivate that one. Some were deleted altogether. And it was like my website slowly woke from a nap, yawned, perked up, and went back to work. O, the relief – and gratefulness for a Daniel in my life.

I have been thinking about this experience. About accretions:

• this habit
• that tendency
• this (unnecessary?) obligation
• that distraction
• lack of focus
• creeping spiritual inertia

I considered this experience a gift. Christians loaded down with too many of the plug-ins of life will find them interfering with trust in God and obedience to His Word. We won’t be in shape for the wonderful work of God’s kingdom.

Assess, deactivate, and even delete.

Mature? Well-developed? Not deficient in any way? James says those are the results we can expect. So let’s make it a Lenten project. Here’s me cheering you on.