Ecclesiastes 12:10

   There might not have been a more world-changing invention this century than the smartphone.  I remember in high school we would ask our math teacher if we could use a calculator, she deny us by saying, “Are you going to be carrying a calculator in your pocket every day?” Well, it turns out we would, plus a phone, computer, encyclopedia, message system, gaming console, news feed, and music player.   As great as the devices are, they come at a high cost and not just to our pocketbooks. Since the mainstream adoption of the smartphone, there has been a stark corollary increase in anxiety, depression, and suicide, especially in the younger generation.  It is easy to see the distraction they make on the roads, in the classroom, and in the workplace. As author Jonathan Haidt put it, “ The phone-based life makes it difficult for people to be fully present with others when they are with others, and to sit silently with themselves when they are alone .”   This...

  Some folks like to arrive at the airport minutes before the plane is about to take off. Some don’t get to the show till the curtain has gone up. Some people will only step out on the platform when the train is spewing smoke.   The only problem is that if you do that, you run the real risk of the gate being closed, the doors being shut, and the train is departing the station.   While that is not a wise way to go about life, it is a much worse way to approach God. Many will wait to seek forgiveness from God till the absolute last moment. They assume there will always be time.   Yet let’s consider what the psalmist tells us in Psalm 32.  As he espouses the goodness of being forgiven, he warns in verse 6, “ Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him .” He warns that waiting till later may mean it’s too late!  Don’t wait till the rush, it might be...

  I recently read a great piece of advice: “ Be hard on yourself in the morning and easy on yourself at night.”   The idea is that at times we keep ourselves up at night beating ourselves up over what we didn’t do, yet we often let the opportunities that are there slip away in the morning.   It's about regret. We usually can’t do anything after the fact. The best way to eliminate regret is to kill it before it is born. Procrastination seems like a solution in the moment, but it's a drain for the future.   Proverbs 3:27-28 says, “ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.  Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it," When you have it with you”.   If we act when we can, we won’t have to be so hard on ourselves later.