The universe is made out of a vast series of interlocking programs, all woven together by The Programmer and His assistants. We, made in His image, are also able to program. Unlike Him, we are not programmed with the ability to “program from scratch”, creating something out of nothing. But, we can rearrange some of His programs and program things that we need or think we need. Our ability to program is part of the meaning contained in the passage “We are made in the image of God.”
Things that humans program include things like two by fours, that we program in ever more automated processes out of His various tree programs. Among the most complicated human programs are large, complicated airplanes, rockets, and warships. Huge cornpickers are surprisingly complicated human programs.
When we ask another free-will program, “What do you do?”, we are really seeking an assessment of that person’s programming abilities. A finish carpenter has a different, more complicated set of programming skills than a framing carpenter. So, when the answer is “I’m a carpenter?”, most of us will ask, “In what kind of carpentry do you specialize?” in order to more accurately assess the programming abilities of the person to whom we’re talking.
It’s always tempting to hire a less skilled programmer to do what we think a more skilled programmer would charge us more to do. That sort of money-saving shortcut rarely works out well, but hope springs eternal in the hearts of those who think they can outsmart the program. Those of less skill often take advantage of such “smart” buyers, and enjoy having them think they’re getting a bargain.
We should, therefore, always remind ourselves to “get with the program”. We should start by getting with His, the very biggest Program of all. It will save us a lot of trouble for a very long time.
