Present in the Moment

Sometimes it is difficult to be in the moment.

When Sheryl and I rented a convertible and drove up Highway 1 in northern California, we put the kids in the back and had the whole Pacific on our left.  They were more interested in the DVDs we rented at Redbox along the way than the scenery.

Are we less vulnerable interacting through cyberspace?

I'm not blaming them.  As a kid, I spent way too much time on an electronic football game that was basically a blinking red light moving around other red lights. These lights of course represented the players.  I hate to say that it was entertaining but there you go.

I can remember long car rides and thinking how cool it would be to have a television in the back seat. Now that we're there, it is pretty cool (and you can pick what you want to watch).  But as we get what we want for games and entertainment, are we missing out on human interaction?

I'm not going to say that we should ban our phones or our tablets or the cool gadgets that are so entertaining.  They do make life enjoyable.  I'm just wondering that if they are so entertaining, and we are choosing to spend more time with them, what were we doing before with that time?

Some of that time I'm sure was throw-away time.

But not all of it.

What does it mean to be in the moment when there is so much drawing us away from the physical reality?

As I continue the series on stewardship, this Sunday, we will explore what it means to commit your presence to Christ through a particular congregation.   I realize the irony of the theme falling on this weekend as it is in the middle of a five day fall break for Edmond public schools.  But if you are in town, I hope you'll join us for worship - we'll need you to shore up our congregation for those traveling!  If you are out of town, you can enter http://www.ustream.tv/channel/first-united-methodist-edmond-ok in your web browser at 11 am and you'll have us live!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by Tomwsulcer (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons