Where old computers go... just before they die

Yesterday I travelled to a mystical place; the place where old computers go just before they die. It is the NETS computer room.

Even to call it a 'computer room' is being generous to the point of deception. The 30 odd students at NETS are required to type their assignments. To provide for this, the computer room has been established. There are 3 computers for the students to share. The newest of the 3 is a 486 machine and has a USB port. The other two use 3.5 inch floppy disks, and one has a 5 and 1/4 inch drive as well. All of these computers are older than my children!

So how do the 30 odd students who are sharing these dinosaurs feel about this! Well, sometimes they are frustrated at the long waits and the regular crashing... but in the main they are grateful. Grateful!

Their gratitude for the old computers... and for so many other things that I take for granted... and for my feeble efforts to encourage them... Well, their gratitude serves as a great rebuke to me. Gratitude is one of the defining marks of the Christian.

Colossians 3:16-17 (NIV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The gratitude of the Christian person is one of the things that ought to make us shine like stars in a darkened universe. I pray it might be much more true of me than it has been.