The Gospel According to Geeks

After being in technology publishing for 15+ years, I've become quite the tech geek. I don't own lots of gadgets, so I'm not an uber geek, but I know enough techspeak and how to manipulate technology that the common man would don me a geek. I remember attending one of my high school reunions and telling my former classmates what I did for a living and they stared at me blankly as if I just conjugated the book of Psalms in the Hebrew language. They responded with, "I barely know how to attach something to e-mail."

One of the things I do daily in my current job is work with HTML (HyperText Markup Language). To define it simply, it's the code that is hidden behind web sites and e-mail newsletters to make them look aesthetically more pleasing than something you just produced on an old IBM Selectric Typewriter. There are multiple applications that allow a novice like myself, to product HTML pages with ease, and little knowledge of all the tricks of straight HTML coding. Products like DreamWeaver (not the 70s hit) and FrontPage are just two well-known HTML creation applications. The ingenuity of the product is you design it in one view and then it magically creates the code behind the scenes. Knowing how to use the product makes creating HTML pages a snap. All is well, until something pesky happens and your design view suddenly looks askew.

This is a challenge I face often. A stray space or symbol appears in my design. Or extra space between lines are there without my knowledge. I'm stuck and then have to begin looking through the code to decipher the problem. One extra space in the code or one stray ">" can cause extreme havoc. And it's normally something I've done to add some odd character in the code. But, once all is in order, the design flows properly and beautifully.

During one of my recent Bible studies, I read through the 38th chapter of Job. This is a chapter where God answers Job by defining who He is. Reading through it truly gave me a refreshing look at really Who God is and what He can do. My favorite verse is 35: "Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?" I get this great visual that the lightning bolts line up in front of God and say, "Hello, Captain, Here we are!" That whole chapter speaks to the mighty power and control of God's Hand.

As I go through my day wrestling with my HTML creations, I realize the code is in the background really doing the work. And, when I start to get my hands in the mix, it messes it up. God is like the Ultimate HTML Coder. He is behind the scenes designing our lives and shaping us into who we are. I'm reminded that when I try to do it on my own, it looks horrible and even one small stray thing can cause my life to go into havoc. It's good to be reminded that He is God and I am not.