Once there was a man that was righteous in the ways of the Lord. He loved his family, his wife, and worked hard at his job and God blessed him. He was fond of many things in his own life: the games that he played, the conversations he had, and the work that he did.
He invested a great deal of time into one element of his work called the computer. In every effort to make his life as meaningful as possible and to give himself more time with his family, Job would spend countless hours pressing buttons and organizing digital tasks so that he would not have to press buttons and organize digital tasks.
He spent hours organizing a to-do list in a GTD format so that he could save hours doing the things on the list and crossing them off on his iPhone with little check marks.
He learned to type fast and speak even faster. His life became a digital tank that was stored between four pounds of plastic and metal. He did all of this because he loved the Lord for everything that he did, he did the build the Kingdom of God.
Satan came to God and questioned Job’s faithfulness. God, amused at Satan’s short term memory and inability to read the Bible, allowed Satan to persecute Job, and so the dance began.
Job was working one night when he was approached by his family to spend time with them by eating and playing at the park. Job was too busy saving time in his digital world so that he could spend time with his family. Satan simply removed his family from him that very evening and so Job found himself alone at his house.
Job still praised God and so Satan removed the internet connection so that Job could not connect remotely to his job. No job for Job.
Job still praised God.
Satan started to corrupt files on Job’s hard drive so that Job could not open the files. Job started to become frustrated. He pulled his hair out and in frustration shaved his head in mourning.
Job still praised God.
Satan then removed all the ability Job had to live a digital life. “With this,” he thought, “I will finally cause Job to curse the Lord!”
Job stared at the blank computer screen.
Nothing.
Job restarted the computer.
Nothing.
Job started to bite his nails and ran anti-virus software.
Nothing.
Job tore his clothes and started to ask God why he had ever been given the desire to evangelize and build the Kingdom when God knew that the day would come when his family would be playing at the park without him after a meal at the Outback and Job would be left alone without his digital life to keep him company. “Why have you done this to me, oh God?”
Satan laughed, sensing victory after stripping Job of everything.
Then the rain and the thunder came, along with an electrical storm that killed the power to the house. God roared out of the thunder, “Gird up your loins and be a man! I will ask the questions and you will give me the answers!”
“Tell me, were you there when I created the world, the processor, the operating system, and the random access memory? Were you there when I decided to almost wipe the drive clean in a flood? Were you there when I guided my people to follow me?”
Humbled, Job turned from his digital god who had misguided and failed him and prayed.
His family came in the door, laughing about being caught in the rain at the park and he hugged his girls to him, even though they were sopping wet. He kissed his wife. He thanked God for the real life that he had, that could never be digitized, for to-do items that would never be finished because they were immortal souls, created by God.
Satan stopped laughing, realizing that his evil had only caused Job to cling tighter to the Lord.
The electricity came back on. Job’s wife asked him why he had decided to shave his head and he recounted the temptation and persecution he had been under from Satan.
“Silly Job,” said his wife. “Don’t you remember who saves?”
She pointed to a small box on the shelf. One that had been previously plugged into the computer. The box had a sticker on it that simply said, “Jesus.”
I knew I put that sticker on my external backup drive for a reason.
