Silly me, I thought it was just a coincidence.

I should remember that with the Lord, nothing is really by chance.

Many of you know that I’ve been working on websites for the last year. One for the church and one for the ministry. (They are ALMOST ready to launch so I’m expecting your support. Or criticism. Either one shows page views.)

I had this vision of what I wanted each site to look like. I dropped a few benjamins to buy the best programs to go with my sites. I then proceeded to beat my head against the wall for the next year.

I’d no sooner master one thing when problems arose somewhere else. Links to other pages and other sites (ones that took forever to set up) would become irretrievably broken and I’d be back at square one.

In the meantime, I was able to keep posting on this Faith Unfaded site, one I could manage easily, even if I had temporarily abandoned it during the big move.

I even set up a similar site for Catfish Charlie, our associate pastor, in four hours. An entire site in FOUR HOURS.

Meanwhile, I was on month 12 of a virtually non-existent site that worked beautifully in my head.

Oh, and did I mention I was determined to do it all myself? The kid devotions, the bible trivia, etc…

Last night, it all came to a head. An eventual decapitated, wolf-ravaged in the forest head.

It seemed that I had “too many cooks in the kitchen” with various web hosts, plug-ins, etc. Don’t ask me to explain- I still have a very basic knowledge of all things code.

So I did what anyone in my position would do. I chunked it all. One year’s worth of work down the tube. Gone forever down the rabbit hole of deleted files. It was not a decision made in anger or madness but still had the undertones of a head-shaving Britney Spears in 2007.

Then I started over using the program I already knew.

This afternoon, less than 24 hours later, I already have both sites to 80% completion.

What a lot of wasted time.

Sitting here, with more satisfaction than regret, I realized that a basic performance done well is better than an ambitious one done poorly.

Even in our walk with Christ.

Sometimes we want to be something we aren’t because it seems to hold a greater reward.

But God wants us to appreciate where we are.

And if you keep walking forward, you’ll get to that place where you wanted to be without even realizing it. It will be effortless because you didn’t rush ahead.

When I first heard the whisper of His Voice, I thought the lesson was just about the computer. But it is never that insignificant. He always has a message that has far greater depth.

He wanted me to be aware of my propensity to desire to be just a little farther than I am. Living in my head of One Days…And completely wasting today.

I won’t rush ahead, not physically or spiritually. I’m actually pleased with where I am and I should acknowledge that. To do otherwise makes me ungrateful and unappreciative of all He’s done for me to this point.

As far as the computer goes?

Well, my new sites are manageable and I researched some sites to link to the church’s Kids page so I’m not overloading myself.

I have no doubt that I’ll learn more about website building and maintaining as the years go by. But for now, I’ll stick to the shallow end!