Just Because You Can... Doesn't Mean You Should

 *Before I begin this blog I want to thank my son Garic for dressing up and posing as a virus maker. You rock Garic!

"With great power comes great responsibility" a quote from Uncle Ben, Peter Parker's (aka Spiderman's) uncle from the Spiderman movie

Everything is permissible--but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. 1 Corinthians 10:23-24

If I were to take a poll and ask if your computer has ever had a virus or if your computer has ever been hacked into, my guess is that majority of you would say...yes.

I have a love hate relationship with computers and technology. I am sure some of my feelings are connected to my PTSD and panic/anxiety.  I realize most people do not like giving control or power to other people, especially people you don't know, but for me it goes a little deeper. Another factor is that I don't always understand what to do when something goes wrong. I am very grateful that my husband is pretty knowledgeable with computers and can usually fix whatever the issue is with a simple click or two. And if he can't fix it he has a few friends who are even more knowledgeable.

To give you a little insight into what this blog is really about I need to explain something...the other day my husband googled information for our George Foreman Grill. We have been having some problems with it and could not locate the booklet that originally came with it.  Within minutes of clicking on a link (for a George Foreman Grill site via Google)  the Internet shut down and shortly thereafter we realized we had a serious virus. Long story short it took hours and hours to fix it, but by God's grace it is fixed now. Someone (a virus maker who may or may not resemble the photo above) finds humor or maybe strength or maybe power or maybe financial gain or maybe just because they can -so they will, created a virus that has the potential, if left alone long enough, to destroy your entire computer.  This is not someone trying to gain your information to steal your identity or steal your contacts, not that I would like that any better, but at least I can see a "point"- they want something that I have.  The people who create virus's do not gain anything per say from me.  They wont even know I was affected. I realize we live in a fallen world and that as long as we have technology we will always have those who will abuse, steal, and destroy other peoples "stuff" whether it is your identity, your information, or those who will take some form of pleasure in ruining your computer.  My husband pointed out that the computer world is just as (if not more) corrupt than the real world.  

I added the quote and the Bible verse above to remind us that even though no one reading this blog has ever hacked into a computer or created a virus (at least I hope not, and if you have, there is always an opportunity for grace, mercy, and forgiveness) we can apply the quote and the verse to our everyday life. We all have great power....power to be show kindness, the power to encourage, the power to build up (and not tear down) with our words, the power to make the right choice, the power to be good to each other, the power to be good to ourselves, the power to face the things we need to face, the power to tell the truth, the power to do the right thing (even when no one is looking), and the power to use your knowledge and talents to help others.

We all have the same choices...there is power in choice...now the challenge is how will you choose to use the power that you have.