I’ve been following the
news updates on tropical storm Daniel this week. Daniel is situated in the Pacific Ocean and has been heading
directly for the Hawaiian Islands. He
was scheduled to hit the islands today.
There is an Internet web
site called surfinglive.com that has
four live cameras that pan back and forth on Waikiki, Sunset, and Bonzai
Pipeline beaches streaming a live video picture to my computer. I decided to log on and check out the storm. I brought the site up expecting to see heavy
rain and big surf. The waves were
somewhat bigger than usual, but the sun was out and people were out enjoying
themselves. It looked like business as
usual.
Curious about what
happened to the storm, I decided to click onto the website of the Honolulu Star
Bulletin, the online edition of Honolulu’s afternoon newspaper. Sure enough, the front-page article was
about Daniel. It seems it gained
strength and is once again near hurricane force, but has slowed its progress
and won’t get to Oahu until tomorrow.
What’s the point of all
this? I guess the thing that amazes me
most is the fact that we take for granted the fact that we are able to do this
kind of thing now. Think about it! I can sit here in my recliner, turn on my
little laptop computer, and check the surf around the world. I can read newspapers from around the
world. I can send instant messages back
and forth to someone else anywhere in the world. I can listen to radio stations from around the world. I can do all this, and much, much more.
The technology that we
have developed has given us the ability to do truly amazing things. I think it’s just as amazing how quickly we
adapt to the new technology. We become so
jaded that the miraculous quickly becomes commonplace. We take these marvels for granted and keep
looking for the next “miracle”. It
certainly takes a lot to impress our over-stimulated culture nowadays. Instead of being appreciative, we feel
entitled. Never before have people had
so much. Never before have people
expected so much from life.
Something that crosses
my mind from time to time is the thought of personal responsibility for all
that we have at our fingertips. Jesus
said, “For unto whomsoever much is given,
of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they
will ask the more. (Luke 12:48)
Whenever I think about
all the things that are in our power to do, I wonder about our responsibility
for those things. We have
technology. So what are we going to do
with it? And this principle applies to
the simple things in life as well. If
you can walk, where will your feet take you?
Is there somewhere the Lord wants you to go? If you can speak, what will you say? Is there someone the Lord wants you to talk to? Will your words bring encouragement and
hope? If you can see, what will you
look at? If you have hands, what will
they do?
All of these things are
blessings. And with each blessing comes
a responsibility to use them in a way that glorifies God. Life is about growing, becoming, and
sharing, not just having. Live on
purpose. Solomon said, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it
with thy might… (Eccl. 9:10)