Consistency

Today I was working on an Excel spreadsheet, and I wanted to edit a cell. There are two common ways to do this—double-click the cell (which doesn't always work on my Mac) or highlight the cell and then make changes in the formula bar at the top. But since I was using the PC, I just hit the F2 key.

I started working with computers when we had a mainframe system at University. This was before the days of personal computers.Then, when we were working in Haiti, our mission had several PCs that we could use to help put together newsletters and publications. At one point, I was able to borrow a portable computer to use in our remote work location. It weighed about 40 pounds and had a 5 inch CRT screen. It boasted a 5-1/4 inch floppy drive and a small hard drive. It had Microsoft Word for DOS on it as well as a spreadsheet program called Lotus 123. I started using Lotus 123 to do personal finances, clinic finances and to keep track of data from some of our ag projects. In Lotus 123, the way to start editing a cell was by pressing the F2 key.

In 1993, we got our first personal computer—it was a small notebook with a 10MB hard drive and a 3-1/2 inch floppy drive. It came with Microsoft Winows 1.1 preinstalled. At this point, I started using Microsoft Excel instead of Lotus 123; fortunately I could easily migrate my Lotus 123 files to the new platform. One of the things I quickly discovered was that Excel borrowed the process of using the F2 key to edit a cell.

The early versions of Excel were quite limited. A lot of formulas that are standard now, one had to enter manually back then. It only supported one worksheet per file. Summarizing data from several worksheets onto one was not such a simple process as it is now. But one thing the Microsoft has kept all this time is the use of the F2 key to edit a cell.

As time progresses, a lot of things change—and these days things change so fast I can hardly keep up. So I appreciate these little things that stay the same in the midst of a universe in flux.

But more than this, I appreciate a God who doesn't change. If God were fickle, we would not know how to approach Him. What worked one day might not work the next. But, as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) If He loved us yesterday, He will love us tomorrow and He will love us in all eternity. Thanks be to God! His love is more certain than the F2 key.