Jean Newell, Associate Pastor
Sometimes I miss the days when a phone was simply that, a phone! Recently, I noticed my cellphone’s battery needed recharging, so as I had done countless times before, I plugged it into the charger at the end of the day. The next morning, I unplugged the phone and realized that the screen was growing dim, so dim I could barely read it, which made calling and texting hard to do. I had no choice; I needed a new phone. Reluctantly, I stopped in the phone store the next day to purchase a new phone. When I told the associate, who was young enough to be one of my grandchildren, about the problem, he simply took the phone in hand, scrolled through a couple of screens and explained I had apparently selected the brightness icon and turned the brightness down myself. I was stunned! I had no idea there was an icon to control the brightness. I’m still not sure where that icon is.
Oh, for the day when a car radio was simply that, a radio. My new car is a 2017 model, and the radio is no longer simple. It’s all digital now with a screen in the middle of the console that will display at different times a navigation system with a map to get you where you need to go and a view of what the backup camera is recording as you back up, in addition to the call letters of a radio station and the title and artist of a song playing on the radio or CD. All I want to do is turn on the radio to a favorite station! After unsuccessfully trying to decipher the owner’s manual, it seems my best option is to ask for help from my kids who are much more “computer-savvy” than I am.
There’s always something new to learn, isn’t there? Same can be said when we read the Bible. Countless times, I will read a passage of scripture that I’ve read before, but for some reason, I find something new to consider in the familiar words. I’m convinced it is as the psalmist wrote, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” – Psalm 119:105. Truly, every new insight revealed helps us live the life God has given us to the fullest.