Time to go wireless?

My husband and I decided to have lunch in a fast food place Moses Lake, and we headed toward the door with another couple just in front of us.

I can remember my mom teaching me that if you are going through a doorway with someone behind you, it is polite to hold the door so they can either walk through or grab the door themselves.

Well, this young women, about 30 years old, was texting on her cellphone, and she made no attempt to hold the door at all. I don’t believe she looked up long enough to see me.

I did see the door swing back but, by then, it was too late, and I was knocked into the entryway wall and bruised by the flying door. My husband caught me before I hit the floor.

After picking myself up, I decided to observe her behavior a little more. It wasn’t hard because she was standing directly in front of me in line.

This woman never quit texting during the five minutes we stood in line. She didn’t stop when she ordered nor when the clerk tried to give her the food that was ordered. Her husband picked it up.

After my husband and I got our food and found a booth, I notice this same couple sitting next to us. Throughout the entire lunch, the woman never said a word to her husband, nor did she quit texting.

This whole incident made me wonder what God thinks of technology and how we should be using it. In 1 Corinthians 6:12 it says, “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything.

I believe this is the key. Don’t let technology enslave you.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my cellphone and computer. They offer me the convenience of staying in touch with the people that I work with.

I find paying my bills online saves me postage and ensures that the money gets to where I need it to be.

Computers and cellphone make preaching a lot easier when I need to check a reference or look something up to make sure my information is correct.

I have noticed that congregants are also using cellphones to look up things that I say and to check my credibility. It is an instant gratification world and preachers better “have their game on.”

But what happens when we let technology rule our lives? We become enslaved to a world that is out of touch with how we are really living.

Just like the woman who was texting in KFC, we don’t see those who are actually around us. We lose touch with what is important and we don’t develop relationships with others.

Just think what would happen in this world if we put all that energy into prayer. After all it was the first “wireless” connection.