Media Mealtime and Multitasking

Priority

It came to me today that my efficient manner of layering tasks one over the other is not God’s best for my life. So in my own battle here are a few things that God is helping me to do.

Prioritize- God first in my day. No media till after prayer. The phone is on but I won’t even glance at it till after prayer, morning coffee and breakfast. This might seem like a no brainer but for me it has been a welcome return to those slower starting pre-cell phone days. This little time is the first fruits of our day and should belong first to God.

No Media at Mealtime!

Have you seen families sitting in a restaurant paying good money for food but paying little attention to one another while they text or play games on their cell phones? The scarier part of this is we might be more likely to do this ourselves at home. It is time to liberate mealtime from the dictatorship of media! That includes eating alone. How can we even taste the food if our attention is elsewhere? God gave us a 3 times a day appetite so we would have 3 opportunities a day to give thanks and then enjoy what He has given us!

Mini Media Fasting

The attitude of the 21st century might be summed up by the phrase “No cell phone left behind!” But unless we are the President or an on duty 1st responder, the truth is the world will not miss us for 30 minutes. While I do admire folks who go off grid for a month; I confess that I am not there yet. But half an hour on my morning walk without a cell phone I can do. Maybe for you that might be time at the gym, a visit with a neighbor- (cell phone left behind) or an hour fishing. So why not give these ideas a try this week? You might be amazed at what God can do with just a little bit of our time that we liberate just for Him and His purposes!

A Holy Land Tour

Though my wife and I have been blessed to travel a bit when we were younger, we have always wanted to see the Holy Land. These days most of our traveling outside of going to church revolves around the doctor, the gym and the grocery store and I am wondering if we will ever see more than just photographs. No boo-hooing going on here because I know that going to Jerusalem is inevitably on our Lord’s travel destination for us whether in this life or the next. With that thought in mind here is a little poem I wrote a couple of years back which I revised a bit and I pray it may bless your day:

 

The Places Where I’ve been

I have not been to Israel

Or seen its Holy sites

Nor to the Sea of Galilee

Where You taught us wrong from right

But Your voice that calmed the storm

Has spoken in my mind

And Your hands that healed the sick

Have gently taken mine

Then You called me to Yourself

And You Said You were The Way

Forgave my sin

Renewed my Hope

And walked with me today!

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God Loves Me Enough

For she said, “If I touch even His garments, I will be made well.” Mark 5:28 ESV

In the culture of her day, she was a woman, who nobody wanted to be around. People considered that her disease made her unclean and that possibly God was punishing her for some hidden sin or failure. But on that day she broke the social norms which said that she should stay far away from Jesus because she believed that God loved her enough to heal her.

Do you ever wonder whether you are good enough for God? Does the way you are treated lead you to isolate yourself from others and sometimes even God? If you answered yes, then welcome to the club! All of us secretly wonder at times whether we are good enough to make the cut when it comes to God. But faith works, not when we simply believe that God is capable enough to do some miraculous act; but when we boldly risk our reputation on the fact that yes indeed: God loves me enough.

He loves enough to be born in a stable in Bethlehem. He loves me enough to teach me how to pray and to wash my feet just as He did for His disciples. He loves me enough to surrender His will as He prayed in the garden. He loves me enough to submit to a humiliating death on the cross for my sins. He loves me enough to meet me outside the tomb; just as He did for Mary. And last and best of all He loves me enough to forgive my sins, come to live in my heart and to give me a place in heaven where He loves me enough to let me sit close by His side forever!