It was 15 or 20 years ago and I was in my early days with computers. I was typing out a major paper that was many pages long. It was great work! I was rolling. Things were clicking. I pounded it out hour after hour. Finally, in the wee hours of the night, I was finished!

    Time to save my masterpiece. All I needed to do was press those three special keys at the same time: “Ctrl + F + S” or some such combination of three keys now lost to me. I punched them in with a feeling of great satisfaction. The machine purred a moment, then seemed to hang for a few seconds. All of a sudden, my computer wrote out a message to me that only hardened sinners are supposed to receive: “YOU HAVE COMMITTED A FATAL ERROR.”

    Of all the things I could have said, what came out of my mouth at that moment and spoken to this inanimate piece of frustrating junk was a simple reply: “No, YOU have a committed a fatal error!” I was ready to throw a hammer through the monitor.

    Of course you’ve probably guessed my problem. I was trying to save a very large document to a disk that didn’t have room to store it. So what did my brainless “wonder machine” do? It messed up! It messed me up! What’s more, it messed my whole night of work up. All my masterpiece was gone. I hated computers.

    We’ve come a long way since those early days. I’m typing on a much faster and smaller computer. It seems like it could hold the whole Library of Congress. Word processors have made our computers smarter and safer for us so that we aren’t as likely to lose a whole night’s work. Computers are now everywhere and not just some novelty those of us who like high-tech bells and whistles have. I’m sure glad I didn’t give up on them!

    With the widespread use of computers came the web, something that didn’t exist in its present form in the day of “my” fatal error. In an instant, we can touch lives all over the planet and communicate God’s truth to people we would have never had the opportunity to influence or know. And I’m thankful that from those early days of Heartlight, I have gotten to be a part of touching that world.

    About 7 years ago, Phil Ware approached me with the idea of sharing some of my writing and radio devotional thoughts with folks over the Internet. The web had just started catching on and I really didn’t know what would come of it all. When Phil, and his partner Paul Lee, launched Heartlight a little over 6 years ago, nobody really was sure what would happen. They didn’t have financial support, but both believed that God had called them to this ministry. In those early weeks, I know my articles only reached 50 or 60 people and the Heartlight was thrilled to touch a few hundred lives per month. That seemed pretty good since they didn’t advertise, had no money, and ran their web site out of a spare bedroom on a donated computer. Little did we know what would happen!

Little did we know what would happen!

    Now the few hundred per month have grown to be half a million different people per month. It’s still a small operation at the center with Phil, Paul, and recent graduate Ben Steed functioning as the core Heartlight team. In actuality, thought, they know that it’s really a lot bigger team than that. Some of you have helped financially. Many of you have prayed fervently. Others have offered encouragement or have responded and blessed those of us who write. Still others have told others about Heartlight or forwarded articles and devotionals to friends. Thousands of lives have been changed while those of us who have participated have been enriched. We’re a part of sharing God’s heart for people and God’s light for those lost in darkness. The web is just the tool.

    Those close to me have often kidded me about wanting the latest high tech gizmo, newest generation microphone, best computer counseling set up, or latest razzle-dazzle projector. Some of my efforts have been a lot like that first “YOU HAVE COMMITTED A FATAL ERROR” experience. My involvement with Heartlight, however, has made the computer hassles and the error messages worth the effort. I thank God for the opportunity for being on the front edge of Kingdom work on the web and having a chance to touch your lives, and for your lives to touch mine, through Heartlight.

    Let’s make a commitment to have God’s heart for people. Let’s also remember that there’s a lot of darkness that needs the light of Jesus. Most of all, let’s thank God for a time when we can shrink the distance between us and build the Kingdom among us through the godly use of technology. What a blessing! Hats off to Heartlight.

    P.S. For all of you cornbread English speakers, “that dog will hunt!”

 

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Title: "We've Come a Long Way!"
Author: Dr. Paul Faulkner
Publication Date: August 20, 2002