Life through the living and enduring word of God.

ARE YOU SYNCED

Do you have a smart phone? I am talking about one of those cell phones that is smarter than the average user. I have one. It can do anything except what I want. It has more apps than I know what to do with, has more options than I can use, and costs more than I can afford.

I know it is smart because all I have to do is plug it into my computer and it downloads everything; phone numbers, e-mail addresses, calendar events, music, and who knows what else. After it does all of that I can look at the memory remaining and see that I have not used a fraction of my capacity. How does it do that?

I remember my first IBM personal computer. It took the whole kitchen table to set it up, the screen was only about 7-10”, you could drink a cup of coffee while it recalculated, and you could only run one program at a time. The first spreadsheet I set up took me hours and then locked up on me. I called the store and the salesman (they did not have “I.T.” people at that time) told me all I would lose was whatever I had done from the last back up. Back up?

Nowadays you just sync up. Everything from your computer, that you need, goes to your phone which works 1000 times faster than my first computer and holds 1000 times more information. I wish I had a way to plug my brain into my computer and sync up. I suppose it is in the works.

What does it mean to sync? The dictionary says, “To be in harmony with” or, the one I like, “The coordination in time between a transmitter and receiver”. Are you in sync? What or who are you in sync with?

Jesus came to sync us with God. In the gospel of John chapter 17, Jesus is praying to his father, ”I have…completed the work you gave me to do…I have revealed you…I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.” Jesus continued in verse 13 with, “I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” It was Jesus’ mission on earth to fully sync us with God.

When I sync my phone with my computer it becomes one with my computer. Jesus wanted us to become one with the father. Speaking of the witness that the followers of Jesus would have, Jesus prayed, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21)

Our witness to the world is a likeness of whom we are in sync with. I admit, I must sync daily with God. Unfortunately, I have a glitch in my personal computer and need to re-sync often, sometimes several times daily. WWJD is an acronym for “What Would Jesus Do?” It is a good question to ask ourselves before we say or do anything. It requires plugging into all that we have learned about God throughout our life and using that information to His glory. Are His desires my desires?

A good re-syncing we can do is to spend time reading from the Bible on a daily basis. When I plug my phone into my computer each day, it not only re-syncs my phone but it also recharges it so that it can go all day without running out of energy. Reading God’s word not only syncs us, but also recharges our lives.

Are you plugged in?

WATCH OUT FOR THE ICE

When you go outside…be aware. Watch out for sneaky ice. You know what sneaky ice is, don’t you? Let me tell you how it appears. It comes after a good snow like we just had. One that doesn’t blow really bad but gives the ground a good cover. Your grass is fully covered and so is your driveway and sidewalks. During the day it warms up just enough for a little thawing before freezing during the night.

This ice only appears in the early morning. It creeps out from under the snow and spreads thinly over the pavement. It is hard to see because it is so clear and just a very thin layer. You never know it is there until it’s too late. Like this morning I was leaving for work, reached into my pickup from the passenger side and started the truck, then stepped down the driveway for the newspaper. That is when it got me. I bent down to pick up the paper, stepped on some of that sneaky ice that had crept out from under the snow, and found my feet above my head, arms in the air, and butt on the ground.

For a young person that might not have been very traumatic but for a not so young person it hurt, not only my rear but my pride also. My first reaction, even before the pain soaked in, was to look up and down the street to see if anyone was watching and then to get my feet back under me before anyone drove by. Isn’t it interesting how being seen in an embarrassing situation trumps hitting the pavement?

Life is like that. We do things then look around to see if anyone is watching. Or we make a comment then wonder who else might have heard us. Dad once told me when I was growing up, “Don’t say something that you wouldn’t want published on the front page of the paper in the morning.” In the movie Bambie, Thumper gave the world good advice when he said, “If you can’t say something nice…don’t say nothing at all.”

Paul, when writing to Timothy, in I Timothy chapter 4, gave this encouragement, “Train yourself to be Godly…Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” He instructed Timothy to, “set an example…in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” Paul closed that passage of instruction to Timothy with, “Watch your life and doctrine closely.”

When we do or say something questionable and look around to make sure no one was watching we forget that God is always watching. And He is not watching to catch us in something wrong but He is watching over us. Psalm 32:8 reads, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” Psalm 121 is a short psalm (only 8 verses) about God’s watchfulness over his people. The psalm begins with, “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber…” I should have read this passage before I walked out on the ice.

Unlike the new song “PANTS ON THE GROUND” I have a new song called “FEET IN THE AIR”. Watch your step…in more ways than one.