My family and I went to see Spiderman 3 this past weekend (yawn). While we were watching the show, a young person asked their mommy a question that caught my attention. Seeing this movie through the eyes of the children behind me was far more entertaining to me than the actual movie (and by the way, these children were way too young for how dark this movie was).

The child asked their mother, "what kind of phone is that?"

When I grew up, I think we had one telephone for most of that period. It was yellow and had a rotary dial. It was the kind of phone most people had. Somewhere in my later youth, the touch tone phone came out. It was awhile before we bought one, but eventually we did.

I remember how much faster that phone was to dial. I am a person usually in a hurry, and waiting on the rotary dial drove me crazy. It probably was more of an issue after we bought the second, faster unit.

Then the streamline phones came out. You know, the ones that were thin and came in exciting colors so every teenage girl in the US could have one in her room? At that time, most of them came with a switch, and you had to choose, rotary or touch tone. My sisters never had one in thier room.

Then in the 80's, the cordless phone came out. The originals were monster size, and had antennae that were three feet long. They worked if you were 3 feet from the base. I remember when we bought one of those. It was so freeing to use that thing and walk a little farther from the area I was usually bound to.

Gradually the technology improved, and you could stroll to most any room in the house. Old reruns of "Seinfeld" show this technology...it's pretty funny to see, now.

Somewhere in there, cell technology began. Again, the originals were as big as the walkie-talkie units the military used. My first cell phone (for work) was big and it flipped open. It was cool and made me feel like I was asking "Scotty" to beam me up to the "Enterprise!"

Now when I see those, I laugh! They were huge!

Phone technology has advanced so rapidly in my lifetime, it's kind of crazy. I still remember when one of my kids asked me what a rotary phone was. Until that moment, I thought my mom still had one in her house. It can be amazing what kinds of things will catch you up in life, to where things are, rather than where we think they are.

Today, phones are little tiny and it seems that everyone has one. We held out for a long time with our girls. Lauren asked for a cell phone for Christmas for 3 or 4 years in a row. Each year she was disappointed. We finally gave in, and now we cannot imagine not being able to be in touch with them. We even get annoyed when we get their voicemail.

The child behind me in the theater asked, "what kind of phone is that, mommy?"

It was a pay phone. To that child it must have looked like the one that "Lisa" uses on "Green Acres" reruns. You know the one...you speak into the bell, and have to crank the phone up to get it to work? I think they are remaking those today. You can spend a whole lot of money and get one to carry around with you...just kidding.

I know I have said it before, but with constant change in our world, and the instant gratification attitudes that most of us have on some level, I am so thankful that the Word of God never changes. "He is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

We need the security of Christ to remain as is. At least I do. I am often amazed at how relevant Jesus is for today, in a world that looks nothing like the one He grew up in.

Technology is not a bad thing, but left unmeasured, it propagates within us, attitudes of expectation and gratification that are not Christ-like. We need to keep our eyes on Him, and still allow Him to direct our steps, day by day.


dad