day 1169: Password Jungle

"Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!"

This has been a week lost in what I call the "Password Jungle".  It started with Facebook asking for the resetting of passwords (allegedly they got attacked and "some" people were compromised, although they never really say who) and so it goes that all of the other applications that we sign in using our Facebook username and passwords also now have to be reset, etc.  And so, it goes and goes.  The jungle is full of many vines that all look the same and are hard to distinguish.  So is the jungle of our passwords.  There are one-stop solutions for the problem like LastPass, 1Password, Dashlane, KeyPass, etc., but to go with any one of those memorized applications, we must then trust that they will also be around in the future and that they can be trusted.  It is a dilemma and one that doesn't seem like it will go away any time soon.  Every new site adds to the problem.  I sometimes feel lost in the jungle.  If you have the better solution that has worked for you, I am all ears and open to what you have found works the best.

Let's stop right now and thank our Lord that He never lets us get lost in a jungle of intertwined ways that we need to decipher to find Him!  He gives us one way and that is through His name that we can reach Him and ask Him of anything.  What a blessing that in the complication of all that is around us, that He has kept it simple for us.  Of course, simple doesn't mean easy.  He didn't create the path to Him without sacrifices to be made.  And, why should have He when He made the ultimate sacrifice for each of us!  Yet, in it all, we need only one password, one name, that if we give all in belief and faith, all of the Kingdom of God will be open to us. Let's place that name, the name of Jesus, deep within our hearts!

Reference: John 14:14 (New Living Translation)

day 353: Behind The Password

The idea of a having a "password" has been an interesting transition over the last 30-ish years. Before computers, voicemail, email, websites, etc. passwords were those things that you whispered through the door of a clubhouse, or were reserved for military or clandestine activities. Not that long ago, you didn't really need any passwords but today we have to keep lists of our current passwords handy so that we can function and stay connected. With a password comes a sense of security and also somewhat a sense of secrecy. In the office every IT person will make sure that we all know that our passwords and what we do on the companies network is not secret and cannot be done without the knowledge that someone else is watching. Even so, in my career I have had to deal with more cases than I want to remember of people who misuse their company computer or the company's network and when caught, they thought that because they were behind a password or different alias they had created for themselves, that they were safe to do whatever they wanted. Suffice to say that in today's technology world, there are no secrets and no password or on-line identity can be hidden or is totally secure. This is a good lesson to apply to our lives as well. There are no secret from God. Sometimes we think that can cordon off parts of our lives and place our own secret passwords in place and get away from God, but that's not the way it works. God sees through all of the passwords and aliases. He can see across our thoughts, desires, actions, and our hearts. In Romans 2:16 Paul says to us; "The day will surely come when God, by Jesus Christ, will judge everyone's secret life". Let's not try and live or work behind a password that we think can keep God out. With God, we have no secrets and who we are, regardless of our faults, is who He wants to know. Today, let's think through the parts of who we are that we have tried and place a password over and see if you can't start removing those, one by one.

Reference: Romans 2:16 (New Living Testament)