It’s hard to believe we’ve been back from Maui for over one week already… for that matter, it’s hard to believe that I’m now married, coming up on three weeks… that’s almost one whole month! I remember everyone telling us to try to slow down and soak it all up, but I do not how possible that really is. We tried to savor the moments as they came, and I think we did a good job… but the tick-tock of time continues and soon we’ll be in our sixties…
While we were in Hawaii Lindsey intentionally left her phone at home. I brought mine with us only for emergencies and for the entirety of our trip, left it in my suitcase, unplugged and turned off.
If we can rewind the tape a few years back to Western Michigan University in the year 2002, you would find me on the verge of getting my first cell phone. I remember talking extensively with someone else who was there during those years… Brian Ulrich. B and I talked about my apprehensions regarding the cell phone, which at that time didn’t come equipped with cameras and before texting became the new method of preferred means of communication. Phone cards were fine… or so I thought. Besides, who needed to get in touch with me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
After WMU came Hurricane Katrina. 2005 was the next time I didn’t have my cell phone on, because there wasn’t service on the gulf coast in the initial days following the storm and that’s where I was at. Fast forward now to Maui in 2009 and we’re back up to speed.
It was incredible to unplug. After a day or two, I had forgotten all about my “addiction”. I suppose this blog is evidence in and of itself that it is beginning to show up again in my life, but regardless it was so refreshing. No work, no calls, no texts and no tweets… until I turned my phone back on. It was a flood. All of the updates of all of the people I’m following that I have forwarded to my phone – great people like @scottberkey, @mpayne76, @John_Jay_Wilson, @Tom_Hooper, @ryanbeaty, @CatalystLeader, @MarkBatterson & @BrianCHouston to name a few – not to mention all of the other regular texts, emails, facebook messages/comments and missed calls… it was insane!
The power of connectivity is an amazing thing. @mpayne76 and I were recently discussing this power and limitless potential. We now have the ability to shrink our world; we have the ability to pray for and encourage each other with a fervor and accessibility we have never before seen in human history! Continents (and the people living their lives on them) are only a tweet away…which brings me to the thesis of this blog: to tweet or not to tweet?
I really debated trading in the blackberry and going back to calling cards… but that’s not realistically possible – or is it? On the one hand, ignorance truly is blissful… however we cannot simply turn a deaf ear to the world in which we live, ignoring it for simplicity’s sake. It, like everything in life, is about striking a balance, but I would
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You can’t build upon the knowledge you haven’t yet learned. This simple truth struck me last night in our small group. Looking back at my life each step that I have taken has been instrumental, foundational, as I entered the next phase of this journey we call life. And yet, as we move forward we are in a sense, limited – confined by the foundations we have created. I remember the dating game. I remember what it was like to wonder when I was going to get married but more importantly to WHO! I remember many late night conversations with Rockhead or Perch, wondering when this thing was finally going to work out for me. |