Don’t let it obscure your spiritual view
May 4, 2010 (Tuesday)
Yesterday I went to my eye doctor in Rockport, and she prescribed some medication for me. She asked me which pharmacy I use, then sat down at her computer, contacted the pharmacy online, sent the prescription, and turned to me to say, “It’s done. You can pick it up in about 30 minutes.” As of that moment, the pharmacist did not know about it, but his computer did. I know from previous experience at the pharmacy that their computer is tied to the computer system of my insurance plan, and payment will be made to the pharmacy, leaving me to pay the balance. The computer-generated information sheet and receipt will tell me all about the medicine and show every detail about the cost and payment. All done by computer.
I paid by credit card. A computer of sorts read the magnetic strip loaded with digital information on my credit card. Within seconds the bank’s computer responded with a version of, “Yeah, he has the credit,” the charge was made, and I was on my way with the medicine and a computer-generated receipt.
Later in the day I went to the church to see the friend who took pictures at the banquet Saturday night with my digital camera. For all practical purposes, one could say the camera is a computer that records images. I had transferred those pictures to my computer and then to a small flash drive that I took to the church and plugged into his computer. He then transferred the 36 pictures into the computer in his office. Again, all done by computer.
After lunch, my friends and I were discussing how a preacher they know uses his hand held computer (Blackberry) for sermon notes when he preaches. Without paper notes, he merely lays his Blackberry on the pulpit and lets it prompt him on what to say. Can you say, “Computer at work?”
I guess I could go on about how computers are in use everywhere we go, every day. We have arrived at the computer age.
Not so long ago we were reading about this age to come, and now it is reality. We are always dealing with computers and their products, mostly without realizing it. You can’t drive a car these days without most things under the hood being controlled by a computer hidden from your view.
Already the computer is in use in the churches in many ways. We are living in a digital world. Technology is the watchword of the day.
Can you hear? Can you hear God calling to you from behind the leather covers of your Bible? Hear, “Be still and know that I am God.” God cannot be computerized. He speaks not only to the mind; he speaks to the heart. He speaks to us in many ways every day, through what we may call “normal” events of life. Our spiritual hearing needs to be improved so that we can hear clearly through the noisy distractions of life.