Love and Pain (Why It Hurts to Care)
August 14, 2008Love and Pain
Why It Hurts to Care
© Steven Dowdle
A deeper look at the way the two strongest emotions felt by humankind relate, and how it illuminates Christ’s role as Savior.
Nested in a bundle of wires, leads, and syringes, a baby—scarcely three weeks old—breaths labored, deep breaths. Within his tiny body, lengths of tubes and catheters reside, each designed to manipulate his vital functions enough to ensure another hour, at least, of life. His problem: A congenital heart defect known as tricuspid atresia, a malady in which the right ventricle of his heart didn’t form correctly. An emergency procedure has temporarily saved his life, inserting a necessary shunt into a pulmonary valve. Now he rests, his worried and fatigued parents standing by his plastic walled crib, watching powerlessly as machines assist his breathing and methodically drop medicines into his tiny veins.
Where is the greater drama? What is it that draws the eye to this particular scene? Is it the pathetic form enfolded in the plastic arms of an Intensive Care Unit? Or does it lie in the unseen weight that bares down on the distressed parents? What is it that transmits this image so forcefully?
The emotion most sought after—and, perhaps, most rarely reciprocated—is that of love. Such a powerful and enigmatic sentiment has been a permanent fixture in humanity throughout the millennia. Every form of expression—from modern “emo” songs to the surpassing poetry of Shakespeare—has attempted to contain what is felt for love, to somehow encapsulate and apprehend what is, essentially, an almost incomprehensible emotion.
Mothers most especially are cognizant of this capacity for loving. They put their own lives on hold—sometimes even approaching the valley of death in an attempt to bring another being to life—as they altruistically sacrifice self-interest and -comfort for the benefit of their progeny. The love of a mother is without peer.
It is this commiseration between sufferer and observer that lies at the heart of this hospital drama. Couched within the mother’s ability to love is an equal capacity to hurt and suffer—often vicariously—with her child. Indeed, it could be said that the depth of pain for one is a perfect reflection of the depth of love that is likewise felt for him or her.
What, then, of God, whose love for His children is fathomless? Indeed, it is known that we only “love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and that He “so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son” (John 3:16). What levels of love can He attain? And, conversely, what kind of commiseration and suffering does He feel when he looks upon us, His creations? Most pointedly: How did He feel when His Beloved Heir hung in agony upon the cross? Was this the cause for Christ’s heartrending question “Why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).
The answer to this lies in the quiet ruminations of the heart, and should, if nothing else, deepen one’s conviction of the divinity of Christ and His expiatory, emancipating mission to the Earth. For truly He is the reason that humanity can love at all, and in spite of it all.
What Does a Web Developer Do?
A Web developer is a term that can refer to an individual or a company that provides services to build and maintain high-end websites. The skills of a Web developer are more expansive than that of a webmaster, who might be a simple end-user utilizing ready-made scripts to patch together a personal website. A Web developer is generally capable of writing custom scripts to accommodate a client’s needs, and is either professionally trained in, or has ample personal experience working with various scripting languages.
A Web developer builds a Web presence from the bottom up, fashioning everything from the home page to site layout and function. A good Web developer takes into account the client’s products or services along with the target market to create a website that will have specific appeal to that market. The site should also showcase the products or services in such a way that is not only promotional, but dynamic, stressing advantages over the competition.
Websites should look great and remain fully functional regardless of the Web browser being used to view the site. A Web developer typically checks pages and forms using the top browsers to check for interoperability. These browsers might include Microsoft™ Internet Explorer™, Mozilla™ Firefox™, Netscape™ Navigator™ and Opera™.
Easy navigation is a key element in any high-traffic website. Few things are more frustrating to visitors than sites that are laid out illogically, or products that are time consuming to find. Implementing a visually appealing webscape that is user-friendly along with an effective search engine, is one way the Web developer ensures visitors will enjoy their visit and quickly get to products of interest. Interactive pages that display items of related interest dependent on click values, helps to entice visitors to stick around while potentially boosting sales revenue.
The Web developer must also make sure that forms work properly. Various scripting languages exist in which to create surveys, contests, and sales mechanisms — the means to securely transfer information between visitors and the website. Browser settings for cookies and scripts can hamper the proper functioning of some Web forms. A Web developer takes all of this into consideration so that when a visitor fills in a form, they are sure to get satisfaction, and not have the form “hang” or “reappear blank” upon clicking the “Send” button. A site that is broken doesn’t bode well for business.
In many cases today Web developers are firms with teams of professionals that specialize in different areas of Web development and online commerce. While the humble webmaster is a good fit for yesteryear’s websites and continues to work for smaller sites, a corporation desirous of a custom Web presence and slick applications written with the newest scripts utilizing the latest technology are best served by a qualified Web developer.
