Digital Diversions

There's a video that's been making the rounds on You Tube the last couple of weeks.  It shows a woman at a mall, leaving a store while texting on her cell phone.  She walks across the floor and directly into a fountain.  She falls right in.  She was oblivious to her surroundings, so intent on that tiny keyboard and screen.  There are a number of versions of the video, I've posted the shortest here.



I've been thinking about the fine metaphor this poor woman provides for us, especially us Christians.  So often we are sidetracked from what is really important by those things that don't really matter.  We miss so much because we are preoccupied with what we think is urgent.  We have our eyes focused on the  wrong things.

One of my favorite stories from scripture is Matthew 14:22 - 36, the story of Jesus walking on the water.  It's night and the disciples are in a boat.  The sea was rough, high winds and choppy waves.  Jesus suddenly appears walking on the water towards the boat.  The disciples at first think they're seeing a ghost, but Jesus told them not to be afraid, "It is I."

Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water."  Jesus told him, "Come."  So Peter hopped out of the boat and started walking on the water toward Jesus.  But after a few steps Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and started looking at what he thought was urgent, the wind and waves and the fact that his feet were not on firm ground.  He started to sink.  "Lord, save me!" he cried out.  Jesus took him by the hand and they got back into the boat.

How often is that us?  Taking our eyes off of Jesus and what He's called us to do because we get distracted by the tempest going on around us?  My prayer today is that we keep our focus on the things that actually make a difference.

We'll be taking your calls on your experiences with digital diversions and how you keep your focus on that which matters.

Valentines And Land Mines

There's a commercial I've seen this Valentines season that says something to the effect of, "Valentines Day isn't about 'I love you,' it's about 'I love us'."  Valentines Day is a day about romance and love.  It's a little idealistic, especially when you consider all the implications of true love.

Not long ago I reconnected with an old friend on Face Book.  I met him and his wife over 18 years ago and they were very much "in love".  They are no longer together.  Good Christian people both of them.  I've found quite a few long lost friends through Face Book and many of them have called it quits on marriage. 
It would seem that love, at least the romantic kind, is not all you need.

I met my wife, Teri, in September of 1977.  We were married in July 1978.  We were very much "in love".  More than 32 years later we are still together, and still "in love".  And while the romance has ebbed and flowed, the love has remained constant.  It's been hard work, but worth every tear.

 The two best pieces of advice I ever received on marriage both came from grandfathers, men who knew the value of commitment and hard work, especially when it came to marriage.  My grandfather told me, "A lot of people will tell you that marriage is 50-50.  It's not.  It's 100-100."

And during the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary Teri's grandfather told me, "That's a long time to spend with one woman."

Determination and endurance are crucial to a succesful marriage.  The kind of will required to sustain a marriage is an act of the will.  God ordained marriage largely as an example of His love for us in Jesus.  And so it would do us well to consider how He views the institution.  On the night before Jesus went to the cross, which was necessary to make the relationship with us possible, Jesus sweated blood.  That should give us an idea of the level of consideration marriage deserves.

Andrew Peterson compares marriage to dancing in a minefield.  His song Dancing In The Minefields says it better in three and a half minutes than I could in an entire book.  Marriage, like Jesus' love for us, is about sacrifice.  The Gospel is full of paradox, like "to find your life you have to lose it."  It kind of complicates the relationship that so often starts off with the promise of romance.  But, as Andrew says in the song, "that's what the promise is for."

We'll be taking your calls on Valentine's Day about your marriage and mine field experiences.  Hope to hear from you on J93.3.  You can listen live on http://www.j933.com/.

Welcome to the blog

Sheila and Mike have been hosting the mornig show at J93.3 for about a year and a half.  Mike's last day was Thursday, February 10, 2011.  He can't say where he's going.  Some of us suspect he's entering the witness protection program, but that's purely speculation.  Wherever he winds up we pray the Lord's best for him and his family.  Mike is a great talent and will be missed.

Sheila has been valiantly fighting cancer and still managing to let her light shine and showing up at 5:30 AM.  You can follow Sheila's blog here.  Sheila and I hosted the morning show at J93.3 back in 1999 till about 2003.  Before that we worked together at a radio station in Louisville, Kentucky.  I'm looking forward to getting to work with her again.

We have quite a lot of good stuff in the works at J93.3.  Of course there's the music.  But the difference in J93.3 only begins with the music.  We're wrapping up our 16th Annual Hearts for Kids, where listeners bring Valentines cards for kids who live in children's homes in the Atlanta area.  Every year we get hundreds of thousands of cards for these precious little ones.  I've been privileged to watch some of them open these cards and it's priceless.  I'm still amazed at how something so simple can make such a difference in a life when you're open to God's leading.

Just some of the cards collected this year.

I'll be using this space to share some of the ways God moves in my life, and how He can move in your life as well.  I welcome your comments.  And hope you'll listen, either on your radio, online or through a smart phone app.