If you are in tech, you probably have heard about the term Root Cause Analysis (RCA). If it is your first time hearing about this term or you are not a tech person, here is what it is:
Root Cause Analysis—RCA for short—is a methodology used in tech to trace down why a system or piece of software has failed, when it has failed, how long the failure lasted, and then further tracking down the impact this failure had on the systems, like downtime.
I am an engineer and I have been working on computer systems for a decade at this point, and I have done these troubleshooting and RCA in the past and there was an RCA most recently that lasted for weeks. Troubleshooting and RCA are things I enjoy doing at work—it’s like treasure hunting, if you will, or tracking down a criminal like a detective.
“In science and engineering, root cause analysis is a method of problem solving used for identifying the root causes of faults or problems.” — Wikipedia
At some point in our lives, we all have been in at least one job interview where the interviewer would pose a question like “Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years in your professional life?”
Or you might have set goals for the next 5 or 10 years, or perhaps you might have current goals that you are tracking.
Or there has been a season in your life where things were not going as you would have expected them to (not talking about things that you do not have control over), like a bad decision or choice you have made. We all can relate to this one, I guess.
How often have you looked back in time and done an RCA on these goals that you have failed to hit or on those seasons of life that you never expected, perhaps from wrong choices or decisions?
I would like to share how I am doing RCA in my personal life. While I was not even aware of doing this until this morning during my quiet time, I realized that I am doing RCA and I feel led to share this with everyone.
While this is just what I have been doing for my RCA, there are no set standards or guidelines. This is what is working for me and might work for you. My prayer is that you approach this with prayer and seek the Lord.
Step 1: Find the Logs #
When I am tasked to do an RCA on a failed system or an incident that caused a system outage, normally here is my approach:
These systems have built-in logging. These logs are a single source of truth—everything that has happened on the system should be logged (in an ideal configuration or system settings). This is where I start looking for logs as to what happened, when it happened, and what caused the system to fail.
Alright, now here’s the thing—we as humans have this logging mechanism too, and it actually works pretty similar to system logs (I know, I know, some of you might be thinking this guy is really stretching it now, but stick with me here!).
Our brains automatically capture and store what I like to call ’life events’ with timestamps, emotional states, and impact levels, just like how system logs capture errors, warnings, and all that information we need when things go wrong.
Think about it for a second: when a system fails, those logs show us the whole sequence—what happened, when it happened, what the system state was, and what triggered the failure, right? Well, our minds work pretty much the same way. You can probably recall not just what happened during a difficult decision you made, but when you made it, how you were feeling leading up to it, who was involved, and what the circumstances were around that time.
And here’s what I find really interesting—just like system logs have different severity levels (you know, CRITICAL, ERROR, WARNING, INFO), our minds prioritize and store memories based on their emotional impact. Those ‘critical errors’ in our lives—moments of poor decisions, relationship failures, or times when we distanced ourselves from God—those are stored with vivid detail, while all the routine ‘info-level’ stuff just fades into the background.
So here’s the key parallel that got me thinking about all this: just as we can search through system logs to trace the root cause of a failure, we can ‘query’ our memories (if you will) to understand the sequence of events that led to those difficult seasons in our lives.
Now hopefully you might be sort of in agreement with me, or might be thinking this guy has no idea what he’s talking about. Regardless, thank you for sticking with me and reading this blog.
Alright, so if you sit down, have some time for yourself, put your brain to work, and are honest with yourself, you might be able to recall those logs—logs from that season of life, logs from that time where you had a decision that caused you that bad season in your life, or perhaps a choice that led you into a good season.
For example, here is one of my logs:
A decision I made a few years ago led me into a difficult season in my life in a way that made me feel guilty about it, distancing myself from God. (That’s what sin does, right—distancing us from God. I will talk about this more later.)
The pattern I discovered was pretty clear when I really thought about it—I kept making these types of decisions during seasons when I wasn’t really seeking God’s will, you know? My quiet time was all over the place, and honestly, I was just operating on my own understanding instead of His guidance. It’s like I was trying to troubleshoot the system without checking the manual first (if that makes sense).
Hope you are still with me and did not fall asleep!
Step 2: Fix the Issue #
Now that I have identified the log that caused the failure in the system, I would go and fix the code. Sometimes it’s just a simple typo; sometimes it’s complicated.
The same is true for our personal lives. Once we identify the log that has caused the failure or difficult season in our lives, it’s time to work on fixing that—not a quick band-aid, but actually fixing the issue. It might take a day, a week, a month, sometimes a year, but we are not going to put a quick band-aid on it. We are going to work on it.
How are we going to fix this, or maybe heal, or maybe forgive (forgive yourself, perhaps)? Well, believe it or not, these decisions that we make or choices we make that lead us into these difficult seasons are normally because we are not in the Lord’s word. It is when we distance ourselves from the Lord that these things happen. It is when we do not seek the Lord’s will that these things happen.
Here is what I have been doing after I have located the log: I did not run away from the LORD, but I started RUNNING TOWARD the Lord. I have been reading the Bible a lot more, my quiet time has improved, my prayer life has improved, and I have been only listening to Christian music for the past 60+ days, and I will continue to do so.
When you seek the Lord and ask Him for help, He will place people in your life and in your heart that are willing to disciple you. For me, it is my Adult Pastor who is gracious to sit with me one-on-one every week and disciples me. And then read books—good Christian books. My way of approaching this is to attack, not defend myself, and not be afraid of the truth but face it. Read about the thing that you are dealing with. Do not run away but find the truth. (It worked for me, but you might not be ready to attack just yet, but that’s okay—seek counsel.) The point here is to seek the truth, and sometimes truth is hard and it might hurt you more, but Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.”
So with improved prayer life, quiet time, reading commentaries, and Christian books on topics that you are dealing with should help you get started on the fix and healing.
Step 3: Repeat #
Yes, you heard me right—repeat. Do this for every instance. Look at your logs, find what is wrong, when did it occur. We all know why it occurred. Repent, seek forgiveness, and do not look back again.
My Pastor has told me this, and this helped me: “Jesus has paid the price for you, for me, and for everyone, once and for all on the cross, for the wrongs that I have done in the past and for the wrongs that I might do in the future. And He did this even before I existed, and I do not deserve a bit of it—that is His grace. If the thing that I am holding onto in my heart or weighing on my heart is hindering me from the Lord, which He has already forgiven and paid for with His blood, it is a sin.”
Remember, His grace is sufficient.
Conclusion #
While this is something I have been doing and it has been working for me, your mileage might vary. But remember to pray, seek the Lord, seek counsel, repent, and know that Jesus paid it all and you are forgiven.
Do not run away from the Lord but run to the Lord. He will welcome you with open arms.
I encourage you to pray and be honest about it knowing that God knows you, He sees you, He loves you and He knows we are not perfect and He expects us to come to him. So seek Him. Your RCA might begin with a log, but it will always bring Him the glory.