think before you do

(http://thealphanetworkeralliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/house-on-sand.jpg)

I remember reading the Mythical Man-Month in class last semester and reading that in a programming project, we should only spend 1/6 of our time actually coding. I heard that and it made sense, but I didn't really believe it.

So here I am, working at truApp and thinking I've got this whole programming thing down. When I'm given a task, I dive in and start hacking away. What I've noticed: I get it done quick, but I don't understand what I wrote, and it takes longer to fix bugs than it took to write the code in the first place. I might as well start over, take some index cards, sit down, plan thoroughly, and start over. And I've done that many times.

What I take from this is that execution is never the most important part. If I'm planning an event, the actual event is the easy part but if the preparation and the planning isn't done well, the damage control required afterward is huge.

Preparation > execution.

Sometimes I think that when we're worshiping together at church and people are mute and unwilling to sing, we need to come up with more gimmicks and better teaching methods to get them to sing. But the execution is only a sign of the lack of preparation. No amount of pestering people is going to change that. And we can modify behavior, but that's only doing the bug fixes. It will take forever, and nothing will really change.

Instead of trying to fix what's broken, we can start over. And do it right from the get-go. Start on the right foundation.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand."
- Matthew 7:24-26

People will come and worship God when they're genuinely in love with God. And until then, all we can do is tell them how beautiful God really is.