Wednesday, September 14, 2011

What do PCs, Typewriters, and Dinosaurs have in Common?

Things are moving too fast. Every year newer, faster digital devices replace the old ones. Sitting at Starbucks, with my 3-year old laptop, next to young people with I-Pads and Tablets makes me feel self-conscious. I imagine they must be thinking, “He’s just an old man; what do you expect?”

The first personal computer I ever bought sits on the book shelf in my library. I just can’t bring myself to throw it out—after all, it's an antique—an original Apple Macintosh (circa, 1984). It’s now a dinosaur, of course. But undoubtedly, the laptop from which I am writing at this very moment will also be a dinosaur in twenty-seven years. It’s only a matter of time before the PC goes the way of typewriters, cassette recorders, and 8-tracks, as the sale of  hand-held mobile devices already outpaces them.  And you can bet the PC's days are numbered by the invention of “gizmos” that Steve Jobs and the like haven’t even dreamed up yet!

So what is my point? Everything in the world is passing away (John 2:17). Everything has a limited existence on this Earth. Nothing lasts forever. Our life on earth is a temporary assignment. “Our days are numbered… we are here on earth for just a little while” (Psalm 39:4; 119:19). Let us, then, “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18).

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