Prior to vacation Loretta searched for an inspirational novel to listen to while traveling. We just finished listening to her choice, Lisa Wingate’s epic masterpiece, Before We Were Yours, as we traveled north across Michigan into Canada toward Minnesota on Rt 17, the Trans Canadian Highway, finished in the sixties, comparable to the US famous Rt 66. Fourteen hours and twenty-nine minutes in length, the book thoroughly captures your imagination with its alternating chapters from the years just prior WWII of an impoverished family living on a houseboat shanty salvaged from their house on their depression foreclosed farm near the Mississippi River around Memphis TN. The alternating chapters depicts a 30 year old privileged US Senator’s youngest daughter, an accomplished government prosecuting attorney recently returning home to SC to perhaps prepare her entrance into politics, considering her 57 year old’s father brush with colon cancer and his uncertain future. The book’s plot continually contrasts the lives of the “white trash river rats” with that of the southern aristocracy in today’s current culture of cellphones, media driven life styles, and crumbling southern protocols and values.
Inject into that drama mix the tragedy involving the Memphis branch of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society that was well entrenched in the upper echelons of the Southern elite involving its political, legal and institutional hierarchy providing a continual separation and flow of the “endangered and unsuspecting children” literally kidnapped in broad daylight off the streets or hospital delivery rooms and funneled through a corrupt system for big bucks to childless couples from Wall Street to Hollywood across the USA.
Throughout the book, Lisa Wingate is able to intimately involve her main “present time’s” character’s personal struggles with the identity issues today we all face, provided we are “living in the moment,” as opposed to last month or even 20 years ago. Or perhaps today, even equally devastating, is our living for and dreaming of some future time, seldom if ever under girded with actual steps of accomplishment,but more likely relegated to some Magic Kingdom pie in the sky. Oh, we may never admit publicly to such ephemeral wishes with no ties to our current realities. And in fact, we may even look down our noses on those statistically impoverished “financially challenged” folks today who buy lottery tickets when we ourselves are also quietly and quite methodically squandering our “precious resources” primarily, our relationships of trust and value with family and loved ones, as well as poorly investing our spiritual gifts of time and energy as our hourglass flows on.
Lauded as an inspirational book, you’ll not be reviewing scripture but you will be continually reminded of the under girding of our prior generations sacrifices and the accompanying opportunities that we enjoy today and too often dismiss without adequate thankfulness, and much worse, are not winsomely nor effectively passing the inherited torch down line.
Yesterday I finished reading a less entertaining book but nevertheless, so very important in the mix of we successfully living a satisfying and fulfilling life. Let’s not get bogged down in the specifics and definitions of “satisfying and fulfilling” as we consider Gary Miller’s latest book, Surviving the Tech Tsunami as I think we can all agree on the magnitude of our current consuming challenge of technology.
Quoting Gary beginning page 11, Life consists of change. I face each day understanding that it will not be an exact replica of the one before. Circumstances, challenges, and decisions will be different, and I accept this. If today were a repeat of yesterday, something would be dreadfully wrong. But there is one caveat; I don’t like too much change too fast. Yet for many of us, that describes the world we live in. Can you imagine someone from the 1800’s picking up one of today’s newspapers? In just a short time, our world has experienced a massive upheaval beyond anything previous generations imagined. Standards of morality, belief in God, and even the public’s view of truth – everything is up for grabs. Mores of society that seemed immovable, like the definitions of marriage or gender identity, are suddenly open for debate. All of this has created a confusing world in which to live and raise a family, and the constant change of electronic technology only generates more challenges.
The Electronic Explosion
Every week seems to bring another gadget, new device, or some product we’ve never heard of and didn’t know we needed. Those of us who lived during the end of the 20th century witnessed an electronic explosion unlike the world has ever seen. Communication, transportation, entertainment, and traditional marketplaces were all affected. Our language has been altered, with social media and texting spawning a lingo of their own. Young people communicate using a dialect of words and phrases that were nonexistent just a few years ago. I grew up never hearing words like megabytes or gigabytes. Checking for mail meant walking down the lane to a little black box with a red flag. All that has changed, and Google, something I once knew nothing about, is now a common verb in the English language.
Those of us desiring to follow Jesus and chart a safe course for ourselves and our children are constantly faced with tremendous challenges. Changes are coming fast, so how do we know which path to take? Every decision will have consequences, but how can we know what they are? It is tempting to assume we are the first generation to deal with this but as we look at the effect of technology on humanity and the church, we will see our generation is not the first to raise an alarm about it’s negative impact.
Gary divides the book into five sections and twenty-eight chapters:
Part One: Change – The Historical Battle
Part Two: Is Something Else Happening Here?
Part Three: Deadly Diversions
Part Four: Where Are We?
Part Five: Re – Evaluating Our Course
Quoting from Gary beginning on page 10, Gordon Moore, co – founder of Intel, an early pioneer of computer chips, in 1965 predicted the industry would double the number of transistors on one square inch of chip every year. In ’75, he adjusted this prediction to doubling every two years. He anticipated that the industry would make computers increasingly cheaper, faster, and useful for purposes man had not even dreamed of yet. This audacious forecast was scoffed by many, but for the past forty years it has held true.
To get a better picture of this exponential change, imagine the same progression in the field of transportation. If automotive technology had advanced at the same rate, cars today would travel at 300,000 miles per hour, get over two million miles per gallon, and cost only four cents each.
God intends his kingdom to be more powerful than culture. A church able to face current and future challenges needs a clear Biblical vision and open dialogue, collectively addressing each threat and its hidden influence. This requires leaders who are willing to take risks, address difficult topics, and speak out on issues that touch hidden areas of our lives. This also requires a higher level of personal accountability than many churches have thought necessary.
At times leaders must make decisions, even though they may not meet the mindset of every member. But if pursuing Jesus instead of the surrounding culture is not part of the churches DNA, then adding rules is meaningless. If a church is no longer concerned about the things that concerns God, just how much protection will He give? It is easy to analyze every question solely by how it will affect our church, our reputation, or our image. And if we expect Him to empower our churches, our mission needs to agree with His.
At one time most members of the Anabaptist churches were involved in farming or other agriculturally based occupations. Now we are increasingly pushed into trades and businesses that require increased use of technology. Sometimes we fight this shift as it seems uncomfortable. Life seemed better back on the farm. God’s eye,however, is still on redeeming this lost and broken world, and if we seize the moment, the push into the business world can provide tremendous opportunity. Sharing our faith with coworkers and other business associates has a purifying effect on our own lives. Those we are trying to reach are quite adept at pointing out hypocrisy and inconsistencies. We desperately need their observations!
We are invariably drawn to technology because it promises what we naturally long for – ease and efficiency. We are naturally impatient and constantly looking for anything to accomplish our goals faster. Ironically, the more efficient we become, the higher our expectations and the greater our propensity for disappointment. High efficiency seldom translates into greater contentment. Yet shunning all technology doesn’t seem to be the answer either. God intends that we think, create, and improve. Failing to do this is failing to live in His image.
I challenge you to aim higher than mere survival. God is at work in our world and has promised to be with us. He has assured us that He will never leave us, told us that His power is greater than all the powers of darkness, and promised that he will never allow temptations to come that are greater than we can bear. God is able and willing to protect us against whatever might come.
So, as in a real tsunami, we first seek higher ground. God‘s goal is larger than having people sit safely under His protection, pursuing risk – free lives. God is looking for individuals and congregations who are willing to join him in the battle. His desire is that we labor together with him to build and nurture his kingdom. Electronic technology isn’t taking our God by surprise, and His goal in the coming years is not that we merely survive, but that we thrive!
Blessings as you GO FORTH SEEKING HIGHER GROUND & ARE EMPOWERED TO THRIVE…….. merlin