April 24, 2008

Forgetful

A friend of mine who shall remain nameless was telling me about his wife, who will certainly remain nameless, and an experience she had recently. She was telling her husband, “I think I am losing my mind!” He laughed and said, “No, you are not! Why would you say that?” She said, “Well, I hate to even tell you.” He responded, “Tell me what?” She said, “I stopped by KFC to get me a bite to eat for lunch and take it home. I pulled up to the drive thru, placed my order, pulled up to the window, paid for the food, got the food, set it down in the seat beside me, proceeded to put my change up, and then I just sat there. In a little while, the lady at the window asked me if she could help me with something else. I told her I was waiting on my chicken.” The sweet lady at the window said, “I believe that is it sitting beside you on the seat.” She looked down, and sure enough, there it was in the same place she had put it about a minute before. Then as you can imagine she sped away in embarrassment.

While this is a true story I can imagine that there may be a dozen ladies reading this and wondering who told him about that and possibly two dozen men who are thinking he is just changing the story up so it will not look like he was writing this article about me. You see the fact is that my friend’s wife is not losing her mind, for many of us may at times have had similar moments of mental lapses or brain malfunctions that make us wonder or possibly make others wonder if we are losing it.

Part of the problem is the world in which we live. It is a world of unending, uninterrupted information, ideas, and instructions. It is a wide-open fire hose of communication, commercials, and sometimes chaos telling us to pay attention. It is impossible to pay attention to all of the attention getting efforts that are out there. Let me give you a couple of examples.

One, of course, is the converging media that comes at us in every form and from every direction. It is incredible to think about how much technology we have at our fingertips and its attempt to invade our lives every moment. When I get in my car to go somewhere, there is no peace and quiet. The media mechanism that is there is an AM/FM radio, a tape player, a CD player, and a satellite radio connection with 180 plus stations. Of course, I have my cell phone just in case somebody wants to call me or I need to call someone. How can you deal with all of that noise and clamor? You cannot, and the fact is that the technology that I described in my vehicle is not as advanced as many of you have in your transportation. There are new bells and whistles out there that will help the flow of ideas come to you.

There is at some point such a gluts of channels through which ideas may flow and voices be translated that we just experience absolute, overwhelming information overload. You cannot pay attention to all of it. It is not just radio, TV, CDs, DVDs, text messaging, telephones, email, etc, and etc. Just driving down the road you cannot pay attention to all of the signs and instructions telling you what to do as you drive. It just hit me the other day as I was driving down the highway what all of the signs were trying to tell me. Within about 10 yards in that strip of highway there were 10 signs informing me of 10 different things happening. You would have to stop on the side of the road in order to read all of them, digest what they are telling you to do, and react while you are driving.

If someone has an accident I am sure that some law enforcement officer will probably ask, “Did you not see that sign? Can you not read?” Reading ability is not the problem. Even if all of our abilities are up to speed and all of our intellectual and emotional sensors are on edge we cannot ingest and digest everything that is coming at us fast enough. While it may seem as though we have everything in place, advanced technology and wireless connections so that communication can be at its maximum, there is a missing piece that happens to be a spiritual part, a biblical word that would help us keep our fast-paced crazy world from coming unraveled.

The scripture says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10a). There must be disciplined self-imposed times of pause, times to reflect, times to be still, times when you are not pressed and pushed, and times when you are not receiving or dispensing information. There must be times just to be still. Beyond that, it is vitally important to be still and know that He is God. It is so important that we keep in focus that part of the verse because it is only there that you can find your life ordered with right priorities. It is time managed under the caring guidance of God.

How in the world would you do that? Where do you begin? Where would God tell you to start? It is a clear truth though it is often forgotten that God Himself in the creation experience said, “One day in seven is a different day. It is a holy day. It is a God day. It is a day when your life is not just packed with more extra curricular activities, but it is a day when you can rest in the Lord. You can refocus on His vision for your life and God can restore and re-establish the plans and purposes that He has for you, your family, and your work. Far too many of us pack Sunday with so many things including church activities, family responsibilities, sporting events, home and yard projects, and the essential shopping trips that by the time we get to Monday morning we are in worse shape than we were before Sunday began.

Nobody can make those time management decisions for you except you. The Lord will help you and guide you. Just speaking from a personal standpoint, I find that I am not nearly so forgetful when I remember Him.

Jim Futral
Executive Director-Treasurer
jfutral@mbcb.org
4-24-08