Spoclsv.exe. – 8th October 2007

A short while ago our computer got infected by the spoclsv virus. I think it began when Norton said that I was eligible for their 2008 software, and I clicked on the appropriate tab. It appears that the first thing that this did was to remove my 2007 version of Norton, presumably so that it was then ready to install the 2008 version. Unfortunately it never seemed to get round to that next step. We were left without firewall and virus protection for a day or so, until we noticed strange things happening … word and excel had disappeared, paintshop disappeared … We looked at the task manager to see what was running and checked the names on the internet and found that spoclsv was rather a nasty little virus causing all the problems. I’m sorry if in the meantime we inadvertently spread the virus to your computer (maybe worth a quick check?).

Well, in good Anglican style, let’s draw parallels about our spiritual life using this as an analogy…

· The shiny new version is not always better than the old, and beware if it destroys the old before providing anything to replace it.
· If you let your guard down, then things will start to go missing. (Morning prayer time, church on Sunday, tithing ….). If not caught there would be nothing left and the computer would be consigned to the skip – with much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out.
· The virus sounds remarkably like the thing we actually need (spoclsv looks like spoolsv – which is an important program to allow us to print). Is this new theology correct and good for us, or extremely damaging?
· Even when we think we have dealt with it, the virus keeps popping up again – hidden in remote places throughout our system. We need to be constantly vigilant to kill any reappearance before it does any damage. (… as with our sin – if we have succumbed in the past, it is a potential weakness in the future)
· Viruses, like sinful behaviour, can be spread from one to another if not trapped and destroyed

And finally, God always works for the best – at least it provided substance for a devotional!

God bless