TECHNOLOGY IS SUCH A MISTRESS!
I am sitting here writing to you because the Teams meeting for Patheos is having technical difficulties. Of course, it is begging for me to write about it. How technology has helped and maybe even hurt us, our faith, or source of information. We live with these issues every day.
Apollo was a fun time
Remember when the Apollo missions worked their way to the moon? Even the Gemini missions before them? They had video! Remember also at the same time we had phones called Trimlines hanging on the wall in the kitchen. It was considered a portable phone because it had a twenty-five-foot cord. You could walk anywhere in the kitchen with your phone, sometimes even down part of the hall. Why would you have to go outside with your phone?
Today, with the smartphones we have, the phones we mostly carry, we could fly those missions just by down loading an app. We would probably call it ‘The Mission to Moon’ app. The computer in the phone is more powerful than the room size computers used by those missions. Neil Armstrong and I could have the ultimate Face Time call.
How far have we come
That’s how far we’ve come.
That’s wonderful.
Unless that becomes our drive. If that becomes our core method how we now do life, if the focus on the tool is more important that the message itself, we might have a problem.
I haven’t pulled my Bible out of my drawer in, well, years. The computer on my phone is bigger better faster than the book I hold. I can read it in the NIV or in Greek. All while sitting in the back row of the church. I now don’t even need to go to church. I can watch it, especially after COVID, I can watch it from my back porch-in my jammies-with a cup of coffee. Why go to church? I can get what I need right here, right?
We need to be careful
We need to be careful. I NEED to be careful.
I can get easily distracted and ‘turtle’ my life. Especially being a ‘retired widower.’ We all can stay alone and inside and do things, go places completely alone. Problem is, that isn’t what God wants me to do. He wants me out there and talking to people, especially at this point in my life. Apparently, at this point in my life, I have something other people want to hear or learn from. There really is not replacement for human contact. And when you add a level of maturity to that, well, its something. The one thing the Evil One wants us to do is not gather together. He loves it when we are alone. Easy pickings for him to mess with. Especially if we are not around some older guy or gal who has been around the block a few times and give counsel to that young and up coming individual. This ain’t our first rodeo as the saying goes.
Our society….
Our society use to be one where the entire town came together at church, or temple, or synagogue. We would meet for the county fair, and barn dances. Then life started to get busy and it has led to today. It’s been slow. Evil has all the time in the world. He will wait for us until there is that time, evil can fall on us. It’s kind of like the old story about putting a frog in a pot of water, then turning on the fire under it. The frog doesn’t try to jump out until it’s too late, not realizing it is too hot until its, well, too late.
So, what does that mean? What can I do? I am sitting here typing on a computer which could have controlled all the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, probably at the same time. I can talk to a box and they turn the lights on, start my car. My house gets vacuumed by something that looks like a frisbee.
Pray.
Simply pray
Simply pray.
It is how God loves us to communicate with Him. We talk to Him. That is prayer. All of a sudden, we are in discussions and conversations with the God of the Universe. Oh, and we are His kid. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of that. We just need to be told who we really are.
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