For Wilshire Baptist Church
The headline on the flyer in the mailbox said, “3 Reasons why your computer may be running slowly,” and below it was listed the culprits: corrupted registry, too much junk, and bloatware, the latter described as “pre-installed applications you don’t use that may take up excessive disk space and memory.”
The flyer promised a computer checkup and cleanout that would restore my computer to optimal performance. Hmm . . . an enticing offer that I rejected as junk mail. These offers are a dime a dozen and junk removal sometimes removes things that aren’t actually junk.
When Dr. Stephen Hawking died last week there were plenty of tributes about his incomparable intellect, amazing perspective and admirable perseverance in living with a debilitating disease. But there was an awkward silence, too, because among Hawking’s incredible, mind-bending statements about the universe and our place in it was a belief summarized in this uncomfortable, sad quote:
“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”
Hmm . . . an interesting concept but I reject it as junk science. Hawking had us all living in our heads, but God has us living in our hearts, too. Heart, soul, spirit – it goes by different names but it is a part of us that is greater than the brain. It is more durable, more creative, more inventive than the brain alone. It can see and do and go places that the brain cannot. It is something that science has yet to measure or explain with any accuracy or certainty. Science likes what science can measure.
Somewhere along the way Hawking’s pre-installed applications – faith, hope and love – were mistaken as junk, set aside as bloatware, and eventually dragged to the trash leaving nothing but cold hard data.
But you know what? They say that even when you drag something to your computer’s trashcan or recycle bin it never really goes away. It is still there and always will be. That includes pre-installed software. I believe the same thing is true with the human computer.
I see that in Hawking’s extensive philanthropy in the areas of health, education and child fostering/adoption. I hear it in his statements of concern about the welfare of humankind and the planet we live on. And I sense it in one of his kinder, gentler quotes:
“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”
That sounds to me like some of that pre-installed software that never really goes away – that Godware that infuses us with faith, hope and love.