Ctrl - Alt - Delete

I am guessing that most of you reading this post are doing so on a personal computer of some sort. Therefore, you know at least the basics of how they work. As a matter of fact, with most personal computers, you can't even "log-in" without doing a "Ctrl - Alt - Delete." It's a curious procedure really, isn't it? Like, why were those three keys (in that exact succession) selected? Why not "Insert - End - Tab" for example? But I digress...

The point is that whoever invented and perfected the operation of personal computers knew that there needed to be some sort of "system" by which a user could command their personal computer to start (that is if they had the appropriate password), and they chose "Ctrl - Alt - Delete" for doing that. In their wisdom, they also knew that there would be times when a user had a need for "escaping" a program or some other procedure when completely bogged down, or when encountering a huge problem, or even for when you are in the middle of something and your computer freezes up and you just need to go back a bit to discover why things aren't working as well as they did at one point in time.

Have you ever hit "Ctrl - Alt - Delete" in your life? I don't mean literally. I mean in a figurative sense. I know I have.

For example, there was a time in my life a year or so after I graduated from college when I just needed to start something new/fresh. The life pattern I was developing was taking me in a terribly wrong direction. I needed to just start over. It took me totally stopping what I was doing long enough to get my whole life system turned in a completely new direction. If I hadn't done that, I couldn't have moved forward. "Ctrl - Alt - Delete."

Then there was that time in my life when I really needed to escape the career/job I found myself in because it was completely bogging me down. I was going nowhere. I needed to take a few steps back and try again. Not throw everything away, just back up a bit to get back to the place where I got off track and try again. This time with the bad experience behind me as a guide to keep me from going there again. "Ctrl - Alt - Delete."

There have also been other times (more frequent than I probably realized until I started writing this) when I've encountered huge problems, things way bigger than what I could ever get through by myself. In those times, I've needed to figuratively hit "Ctrl - Alt - Delete" just to get perspective. Without proper perspective I really couldn't move forward. When life froze up on me, for those times when I just wasn't moving forward at all because of my own bad choices and/or the immense problems I was facing, I sometimes had to just go back a few steps and try to discover why things weren't working very well. What was the cause? What were the reasons? How did I get so far off-track? And then, once I discovered what the problem was, where I had left the track, I sometimes had to take some pretty drastic measures to recalibrate my life just so that I could in fact move forward again. Not easy to do, but definitely necessary. "Ctrl - Alt - Delete."

I believe in a God that designed us and also knew that we would at times mess up our lives. That is why He gave us a "Ctrl - Alt - Delete" to use when we need to start something new, when we need to escape something that just isn't working, and/or when we need to get HIS perspective on things and take some drastic measures to get back on track with our lives. His "Ctrl - Alt - Delete" is achieved through confession (I John 1:9). I'm so glad He created that for us because I've needed it many, many times in my life.

Praise God for His "Ctrl - Alt - Delete."