In a world that gives everything on a silver platter, it focuses on us. We sit in our recliners, with our computers ( that are endowed with wireless internet), osculating heaters, tv’s with satellite, cell phones that do everything from calenders to having application that can run the power point presentation and we think the world owes us something. How strange it is that we have this narcissistic mind set.
We walk around expecting our cell phones to get perfect reception every second. Everything is digital now, or at least it seems this way. It was only 15 years ago that people had the cell phones that were large and had green screens. This was the time when antennas had a purpose. I remember when people would walk with cell phones in the air because they received no service. People would be in the most interesting positions, you would see them standing on top a car with the phone raised high just to get the right signal. Standing by they car, so they thought, would give them great reception. How crazy is this. It really has not been that long ago.
Fast food has been around for decades now, I bet that is strange for some to think. Lets take the words “fast food” and break these two words down. First we have the word “fast” which means hurried, quick, hasty, rapid and even swift1. Then we have the word “food” which is anything that can be consumed for nourishment of the body. Think about the idea of fast food. No one cares who you are. The people who are placing the order has no process of taking care of the food that is coming out to you. They push a touch screen computer that they hope will send the correct message to the back, for those to put your meal together (notice there is no verbal communication). If you have realized it or not they have name tags (the people working). Do we really care about their names? Most likely not. But let’s get back to these two words “fast food”. If we take the two definitions and put them together you get; hurried, quick, hasty, rapidly prepared food that is for the nourishment of the body. None of this shows a minuscule once of care. Even the environment of a fast food restaurant is sorely focused on who can we get in, order food and leave within ten minutes or so.
In these restaurant of fast food we find coloring of none inviting per portions. There are seats that look deceivingly comfortable with there fluffy backs made of plastics. Everyone is welcome, but for how long? We will get your food to you in 30 seconds or less. But wait if it goes beyond such a time, I am peeved. Come on people, you just received a full course meal of a hamburger, fries and milkshake in a minute and a half; which would normally take you thirty to forty minutes to conjure up at home. Take the time to watch this video.
What did you think. Wild isn’t it? Wireless on an airplane. I was speaking with my pastor the other day and we were talking about how much things have changed. He is in his mid-fifties mind you. He was telling me a story of a young girl that is apart of our church. The young girl was wanting to use the phone. He pointed to the phone that was in the hall. This girls has to be around nine or ten at the time. He tells her to go ahead and use that phone. She has the phone receiver in her, springy cord going to the phone box and she just stares. The pastor then ask what is wrong. She told him she had no idea how the phone even worked. It was a rotary phone. You know the ones that you must turn with your finger to dial out. All she has ever known is a touch tone phone. I heard of another story that this man had an old Macintosh computer that was manufactured back in the 80s. One of the ones that had the off-white almost tan covering with a thick green glass monitor screen, yeah you know. This man brought it out for a sermon and a young boy ask if it was a toaster. What!? A toaster. He chuckled in amazement of the child’s sincere ignorance of the old computer.
Order your own food
I was sitting at lunch with a friend the other day, we decided to go to a buffet. Think about the idea of a buffet… you have a plethora of food waiting for you to waist away on. Usually the food has been sitting there for hours, or so it seems. We got to talking about youth and college age students. He was the director at the local denomination organization that was put on campus for students to go and attend if they so please. We got to discussing at how a junior in high school is starting to look no different that a sophomore in college. Not meaning physically they look different, because there is a difference between a sixteen and nineteen year old but their mentality toward life. For instance, if the students are ask to be involved in a activity it is almost stressful for them to be there. Collins, this is the director I am eating with, was telling me that he has some great dynamic people that are involved in the ministry that is on campus. Most of these individuals are of the ages of eighteen to twenty. He was telling of one in particular that was willing to include and meet new people. Which is great but when ask to do something more he became extremely lethargic toward the idea. Eventually the task appointed for him never became completed. Collins could not understand, he was telling me it is much like when you are younger living at home and you go to a fast food restaurant. You would look to your parents and say I would like the number one with no pickle. Then they would order it for you. As you grew up your parents would eventually tell you to order your own food.
Collins was seeing that the ones coming up had no sense of worth or value and could not do much for themselves. It reminds of this one time I was traveling all over the Midwest teaching soccer and the word of God. It is a great organization called Sports Crusaders that I was going with. This was a summer long internship/ mission work. We would go each week to a new town and stay with people that were willing to open their homes for us to lay our heads. Well there was this one time that one of the students that I was teaching actually stayed in the same house as me and my teammates. This usually did not occur, the student was visiting grandma and grandpa for the week. Any way one night the hostess fixed this amazing roast, potatoes, green beans, gravy, in other words the works. Smelled great. While we were waiting I hear the hostess ask her grandson, the student, what he wanted and he replied with “chicken nuggets”! My jaw dropped. Growing up, if mom fixed dead cat we were having dead cat, just so you know we did not have cat, but if we were that is what we would of eaten. The student was able to have what he wanted.
Just a question; why do we fall into this? We think that this world is revolving around us.... Just realize The world spins and your not the center...
until next time...
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