Mike’s Musings ….

Lost Communication!

   As I write this week’s Mike’s Musings, an attitude combined with frustration and wonderment is within me. Neither my phone nor internet service is working at home! While ordinarily these matters would not bother me, today’s important works require both items to work. Isn’t it odd how we grow dependent on such items for even daily activities? Such simple things like this can wreak havoc on even the largest companies, let alone us “little guys” who want to work!

   Because most of us don’t use “landlines” anymore, when communication is ended, one feels helpless, abandoned, and frankly, frightened. What if some emergency occurs? And knowing someone promised to contact you with urgent matters, how can that contact be made without communication abilities? Few can use “smoke signals” and with the neighbors gone, we can’t holler loud enough to get anybody’s attention. What are we to do when we are stifled by what has become our “dependable lines of communication?”

   If things follow the customary way of mechanical things, someone somewhere will at some time fix the problems. It will take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, but eventually, things like this usually get fixed. We find things we can do without phones or computers and might even learn that it’s rather refreshing to return to the days of old and work without the luxuries of “modern devices.” We might even find it fun to just sit and read for a change!

   How wonderful to muse on the reality that communication with God never breaks! We can PRAY anytime and anywhere, and He hears us (1 John 5:14-15). We can READ His word, and by faith hear Him speaking to us as if He were in the very room in which we sit (Hebrews 1: 1 – 2; 2:1-4). We can devote some time to THINKING (Philippians 4:8; 1 Timothy 4:15-16); an exercise that helps us mature in the gospel of Christ (Hebrews 5:13-14). There are so many spiritual things we COULD do, but isn’t it odd that many will waste time trying to fix either the phones or the internet, only to find both problems are well beyond their expertise: then waste that time complaining about why we can’t do without these commodities?

   No, instead of being frustrated, I’ve decided to be happy for the time to quietly write this musing, then do some more work on studying for sermons and bible studies. It’s kind of nice to be severed from “modern communications” and be left alone with the work of God in helping brethren increase their dedication to the same work – saving our own souls and endeavoring to teach others to do the same!