Friday, November 12, 2010

From Telegraph to Texting to Neither

Do you remember Samuel Morse and his history-changing invention? On BING it says his invention, the telegraph, did a number of things, not the least of which was to make it easier for businessmen to operate more profitably.
Other than having to learn the Morse code, do you know what short-circuited the telegraph?
The telephone.
A person could call another person and TALK to him or her. Each knew not only what the other person said, but how she said it.
Now we have texting. We've forfeited voice contact to (again) let our fingers do the talking. Vocal inflection is lost and--BTW--have you checked the deterioration of spelling and grammatical skills? Our literacy skills have sunk to less than the standard 6th grade reading level. No offense to you sixth graders out there.
God has given us a written Word to know Him. He did us one better. He sent His Son--a living, talking person to communicate to us and with us. No dashes, no dots, no txt msg. That verbal, face to face thing will happen again. Ready to live without the telegraph, the telephone, or texting? The day is coming....
"The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout" (1 Thessalonians 4:16 KJV) and "every eye will see him" (Revelation 1:7 NIV).

Monday, November 1, 2010

ASSURANCE & TERROR

As November begins, most of the corn is harvested. There's one field nearby where we're sure some big bucks--and some does too--are eating well. We see deer on a regular basis now. Just so they see us--when we're in the car AT NIGHT and driving close to where they happen to be loitering. Deer have nothing to do with the topic at hand today. Just musing a bit.... Yesterday as we considered God in the affairs of men in the books of Joshua, Judges, and a bit in the Samuels, I was struck again by God's transcendence and His immanence. God alone is sovereign. He orders all things. That "the affairs of men" phrase is something of a misnomer. To say He's both transcendent and immanent makes it clear He's ordering it all, and we're "ordering" nothing at all. There's assurance in that knowledge--and terror. God is the only Sovereign. Thankfully, the only Sovereign is also good. And therein lies our hope.