I JESUS?

I arrived at Starbuck’s at a quarter ‘till 6 this morning. Out in front of the store are people waiting to get in, not one or two but easily a dozen or more.


My first thought was some poor bedraggled youth worker had drug his entire youth group out for coffee after an all-night lock-in or something. Upon second look, these aren’t kids under blankets and on lawn chairs camped out in front of my destination, these are adults.

Not being use to needing to get in line for my early morning coffee and being a curious fellow, I ambled up to one of the men on the outer edge and asked, “What’s everyone doing here?” “The new I Phone 5 comes out today, were in line to get ours.

I will get-up at 5am to mentor and be mentored in the Lord. I will stay up all night at a hospital, if need be, but I CANNOT imagine that I would ever camp out all night in order to buy a telephone, “There are over 500 people over at The Apple Store” my informant volunteered. “You must be expecting some important phone calls” I answered, to which Johnny-at – the- end of- the- line just smiled.

What a deep recession we are in; when people will camp out all night for the opportunity to pay hundreds of dollars for a new cell phone! I was tempted to walk the line asking the people waiting there if they had any unpaid bills at home, but I decided there are better ways to die than by a mob in front of AT&T.

It really does make me wonder how addicted we are to convenience when the release of a new model phone is a reason to sleep on the sidewalk. I watched one young man as he was listening to his Ipod, working on his Mac Book and waiting in line to but the new I Phone 5 which will replace his I Phone 4 and pondered the possibilities for the next generation. Is such addiction to gadgets really progress?

Don’t get me wrong, I practically live on the computer and my Ipod is my favorite possession and my wife would argue that I could not live without either, but my phone is my phone and there are times I wish it just hung on the wall at home like the one I grew-up with. Times I wish I could turn-off the ringer and enjoy the evening with Tammy without interruption and be in the car without people being able to call me, and yet I never leave work without calling my wife on the way home and she seldom leaves home without us speaking to each other a couple times a day.
I guess as long as people have time to play with new gadgets, there will be new gadgets to play with, but I wonder; how many people would camp out all night to get into a church? How many would sleep on the sidewalk to spend time with a friend in need? How many would invest hundreds of dollars in ministry which has eternal implications, but no new apps? Just wondering. Amen!