Should we choose new contraptions or God?

I was sitting in a restaurant on a Friday afternoon enjoying a leisurely repast with some friends. Somewhere in the middle of our conversation, my cell phone went off. Without even thinking about it, I reached into my shirt pocket, pulled it out and answered it.

It was then I was struck with an awful thought. I am now a child of this contemporary technological world. I never thought I would succumb to this sort of thing. But here I am; I’m not the man I used to be, and I’m not even sure I’m the man I want to be.

On my way home, I thought about how far I have come in this modern world and then, thought of my grandfather, who died in 1974.

What came to my mind was when my grandmother got a new contraption for their home. Grandfather was not enthused about modern advances.

My grandfather allowed Grandmother to get electricity in the house, but when it came to indoor plumbing, he was dead set against it. He had used the old outhouse in the back as far as he could remember. His father had used it before him. As far as Grandfather was concerned, he was going to use that outhouse until he died. And that was that.

Grandmother eventually had indoor plumbing installed, but my grandfather never used it.

Then the time came for a telephone. Knowing the hard time Grandfather gave her with the indoor plumbing, she decided not to tell him about the installation of the telephone.

Grandfather came home that night, as usual, sat down to a very nice supper, and didn’t notice the addition in the living room. Grandmother did not point it out.

As Grandfather settled down to read the evening newspaper, and Grandmother tended to kitchen matters, a ringing noise exploded in the living room. Grandfather, not knowing what had happened, jumped out of his chair and exited the living room faster than he had ever done before. Grandmother forgot about the new contraption and was scared too.

Then it dawned on Grandmother. “Oh,” she said with a sigh of relief. “That’s the telephone ringing.” She finally got to the phone and answered it.

Grandfather stared at her as she talked into the telephone receiver. “Woman,” he said with a great deal of alarm, “what in the world is wrong with you?” Grandmother ignored him and continued talking on the telephone.

Grandfather was worried watching his wife talk to someone who was not there and even at times laughing when there wasn’t anything funny.

Finally, he took the contraption out of her hand, took her by the arm and, “Now, dear. There’s nothing to worry about. Just come over and sit down and everything will be all right.”

Grandfather never came to terms with Grandmother’s newfangled contraption. To my knowledge, he never used it, never spoke to anybody on it, and never listened to anybody talking to him on it. As far as he was concerned, it was one of Grandmother’s hallucinations.

It has been a long time since I thought about Grandmother’s telephone. On my way home from my luncheon meeting, I thought about all the inventions that have come into our world.

I thought of what the Bible said, “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29 KJV).

In my opinion, we seem to be quick on our inventions, but rather slow on connecting with God.

With all our inventions, are we any better off?

Instead of seeking inventions, we would be better served in seeking God.

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