(2617 is not an acceptable number)

   Every number is relative. What if I told you 2,617 is the number of times that the average American touches, swipes or taps their phone in a day. Every single day.
   I read an article this week - which I ironically found on my phone and then tapped twice to save to my email - that points out a growing concern that as well as addicting users, technology is contributing toward so-called “continuous partial attention”, severely limiting people’s ability to focus, and possibly lowering IQ. One recent study showed that the mere presence of smartphones damages cognitive capacity – even when the device is turned off.

   “Everyone is distracted,” Justin Rosenstein says. “All of the time.” He is a 34 year old veteran of tech-companies that is really worried about our ability to discipline ourselves. He is particularly aware of the allure of Facebook “likes”, which he describes as “bright dings of pseudo-pleasure” that can be as hollow as they are seductive. And Rosenstein should know: he was the Facebook engineer who created the “like” button in the first place. Talk about irony!

   Earlier this year a few hundred folks paid up to $1,700 to learn how to manipulate people into habitual use of their products at a technology development conference organised by Nir Eyal, who has spent years teaching techniques he developed by closely studying how the Silicon Valley giants operate. “The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions,” Eyal writes. “It’s the impulse to check a message notification. It’s the pull to visit YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter for just a few minutes, only to find yourself still tapping and scrolling an hour later.” None of this is an accident, he writes. It is all “just as their designers intended.”
   Where are you in this pitfall? Are you a victim? Do you have ways of resisting being caught up in their techniques? What about loved-ones? What things are suffering as we spend more and more time lost in these virtual worlds of social media? If these struggles are true, shouldn't we talk about them? How can we help? We were made for a rhythm of work and rest, going between being on and off. Are devices preventing you from turning off?
   Grace and peace, Scott
PS - I encourage you to read here for the full article.

Stop Spinning Around and Around

   It is silly, but these are all the craze with children and kids in their early teens. They are called fidget spinners. I don't know where they originated, but I do know they are being made by the tens of thousands overseas and shipped to homes. They are even found on the counters of local convenience stores - I got this one just a mile from here on the corner of Moody and Hwy 96.
   Made out of plastic or metal, they feature a ball-bearing in the center that spins and spins after you've loaded it with energy with a good push. What little advertising is associated with them suggests they are good for keeping a person focused, or relieving stress. I doubt the FDA would support either claim. This one will spin for nearly two minutes before finally coming to a stop.
   How long can you go before finally running out of energy? The terrible truth is we regularly test our limits. We work too long, play too much, sleep too little, and wonder why we finally come to a complete (crashing) stop. The wisdom of the Bible makes this much clear: we are not made to work and go forever. We are made to rest in between. We are made to stop, from time to time, and reset. We are made to live in the rhythm of being on and off, of work and rest; it is the rhythm of Sabbath and the devotional life.
   It is hard, I know. Taking the time every morning (or evening) to sit in front of the word of God involves overcoming a wealth of obstacles, not to mention the force of inertia that tell us to keep going once we've started the day. But, we are not made like toys. We are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). We are made to work and rest, go and stop, spin and sit still. Grace and peace, Scott

The Missing __ Changes Everything

OurFatherwhoartinheavenhallowedbetheynameThykingdomcomethywillbedone

onearthasitisinheavenGiveusthisdayourdailybreadAndforgiveusourtrespasses

asweforgivethosewhotrespassagainstusAndleadusnotintotemptation

butdeliverusfromevilForthineisthekingdom

andthepowerandthegloryforeverAmen

  This is not right. While it has the exact same substance and content of the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught to his disciples, it is not the same thing. Not a single letter has been changed but one little absence changes the way we experience it. The spaces are missing. The Lord's Prayer is not the Lord's Prayer when we remove the space between the words. The missing __ changes everything.
  I think the same could be said of life. The spaces in life are often the difference between substance that makes sense and works as compared to the same substance that is too closely crammed together as to be helpful. We can be blessed by three deep and moving conversations in a day or week, but if they were to come one after the other, in succession with no time in between to process them, then the affect is different. Most people would resonate with being busy, but we define too busy as not having enough time. Think of the time in between like space. Life is lessened without the space in between. Some people call it margin. They have come to realize that margin in and around what we do allow for us to breathe, to reflect, to prepare, and to cherish. To live without these critical elements is not good for body or soul. I believe Jesus modeled this throughout his ministry and wants the same of us.
  This idea came up this week as I visited with Sister Chris at Blessed Trinity Shrine Retreat for spiritual direction. She loved hearing about our congregation's efforts to spend a few moments in silence during the Season of Lent. I shared with her that I had been trying it but was struggling some. Would you believe she told me to do less. Instead of 8-10 minutes of quiet, centering prayer, I should start with 2-3 minutes. She encouraged me to then return to it in small moments through the rest of the day, seeking to regain that word from God as the day went on. I offer this to you, as well.
  May the space you take in between the stuff of life be a place where you encounter the God who made and loves you. Peace, Scott

Adding It All Up

   I loved being gone, but I am glad to be back. It is a wonderful thing to return home to a great community and an even better congregation where we know we are called to serve and grow in serving together.
   As many of you know, Julie, the boys, and I spent the better part of a week in Lake Junaluska, NC for our Carruth family reunion. Over 55 cousins and relatives gathered around kickball, fireworks, food, sliding down a mountain stream, kayaking, food, telling stories, and then plenty of food and desserts. 
   We returned from there and then last week Julie and I flew to visit friends at their home in Las Vegas. Jay and Amanda were in our youth group a decade ago and have grown to be some of our best friends. He serves in the US Air Force and she works as a pharmacist. They welcomed us like family and showed us the sights. As we approached home when it was all over, my mathematical instincts took over and I tallied the following numbers:

• 0 lost at the casinos in Las Vegas. 
• 1 book read. (Henri Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son)
• 2 Sundays away from worship with the people of Epworth meant 2 Sundays worshiping with the people of GOD in other places. We attended a bilingual service at Julie's home church in Roswell and then a contemporary service in Las Vegas where Jay and Amanda attend. 
• 3 kayaks carried my father, my son and myself across Lake Junaluska for an hour as we raced and splashed each other. 
• 4 hour excursion to see the amazing scale and engineering prowess of the Hoover Dam.
• 5 hours of little sleep in the D-Terminal of the Las Vegas Airport waiting on the next flight after the first one left without us!

   I had to laugh as we were traveling home and tallying up our time away. These numbers are not very impressive. Considering how long we were gone and the places we visited, they are kind of small, to be honest. Some things defy accounting. Some things are too big for numbers. 
   Instead words will suffice: Amazing friends, Beautiful wife, Crazy boys, Magnificent GOD. While these are all true here at home it is nice to know they are true when we are away from home, as well.
   May the GOD who bids us come and follow Him into a life so abundant that numbers often fail be with you in your goings and comings. Grace and Peace, Scott

Take a Day Off

   This can be misunderstood, especially coming from the church or the pastor. But it means what it says...take a day off. Stop working.
   The Law says you must rest. Well, not exactly. But Labor Day was made an official national holiday by an Act of the United States Congress in 1894. The holiday originated from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man" in 1882. It is still celebrated as a day of rest for most people.  It use to be a boundary for fashion, but my wife, who regularly instructs me on the subject, says those days are gone. It also marks the symbolic end of summer for many, though on this last point we here in Columbus take issue for a couple of reasons: school started back four weeks earlier and the hottest days of the year seem to have no end in sight. Many of us will celebrate with picnics, barbecues, afternoon naps, playing in the water or heading out of town one last time. 
   Regardless of how you choose to spend your day, this Monday is a national holiday for a variety of great reasons beyond the law. I am reminded that our Congressional leaders were not the first to publicly declare that take time off to rest was important. God did the same thing a few years before that.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. - Exodus 20

God believed taking a day off was so important, he made it a commandment for his people. Right alongside murder, idolatry of false gods, stealing, and adultery is the sin of working too much. I think it is because those who work all the time begin to believe that the world might stop if they did. Or maybe it is because God knows best how we are made and taking time to rest and remember our Maker is a matter of life and death? Either way, it is something we all need to do. 
   Take a day off from work, and use it reconnect with joy, hope, and your value apart from your work. This is the stuff of God. This is what we are about. Grace and Peace, Scott

One Way to Get to Thankful

“In a time when many people only want to talk about themselves, my grandmother, who is 89, had the least to say when I asked her about herself. Instead, she wanted to share stories about her community, her friends, and her children.”

Amanda, from Tennessee

   This week we slow down a little more, eat a little more, and hopefully do a little less.  Holidays can help remind us of our place: we are created to work and to rest, and leave the 'savior of the world' role for One who can handle it.  This is the essence of the Commandment to observe the sabbath: we are not God and the world does not stop when we take time to rest (Exodus 20).  My prayer for you this Thanksgiving holiday is that you are thankful and that you find rest and peace, in the company of loved ones.

   But how does one arrive at an attitude of thanksgiving? I've recently heard about one way to get there. Listening.  What better way to grow in our awareness of a deep sense of thanksgiving, than to listen and celebrate God's work through the lives of another?

   The National Day of Listening is a new national holiday started by StoryCorps in 2008. On the day after Thanksgiving, StoryCorps asks all Americans to take an hour to record an interview with a loved one, using recording equipment that is readily available in most homes, such as computers, iPhones, and tape recorders.  Read more at nationaldayoflistening.org.

   I think this is a beautiful way to steer our spirits toward a deep thanksgiving. On a day when family and friends are often already together, we should spend some time listening. May God pour out blessings this week, and every week, upon you that create thankful hearts.

   Grace and Peace to you, Scott

Busy

   Some weeks just get busy. We held our our annual Charge Conference, last Tuesday, where we connect to the larger Connection of the United Methodist Church. This meeting called for 30 pages of forms, over 100 letters to be mailed out, and dozens of signatures. to be obtained. At the end of the week, hundreds gathered to connect with our history, as we celebrated Homecoming and our 50th Anniversary.  The speakers were awesome and inspiring, and the meal was amazing. Preparing for the celebration meant we had audio contractors in the sanctuary, work done on our sign on the street, landscaping happening out front, furniture moving up and down the halls, and thirty or more volunteering on Saturday to spruce things up. In between these two events our church stopped to celebrate the lives of two beautiful women, who have been a connected to our church for years. We also created and mailed bulletins, paid the bills, met with visitors, visited the hospitals, returned phone calls, and all of the other routine tasks of the church. Some days and weeks just get busy. 

   It is all good stuff, all worthwhile, but sometimes the amount just increases with no end in sight. We know what that is like, when needs begin to press in so close, that stress rises and feelings of inadequacy mount. What are our options? At one point, early in Jesus' ministry, similar busyness started to pile up. The word spread, and people started lining up to be healed, to be taught, and to be discipled. As followers of Christ, aren't we called to meet everyone's needs?  To get it all done?  To not let anyone down?

   Mark 1 tells the story well.  Jesus has been bombarded with needs.  One witness suggests that everyone in town came to ask something of Jesus.  How did he handle it?  When the moment had passed, and the day was over, he went off got quiet and he prayed.  Jesus never let the crush of needs of one day take him away from the larger need to find balance and stay grounded in his larger purpose. We cannot be ready for the next thing if we never slow down to rest from the previous.  I want all of the great servant leaders within our community to hear this - don't be fooled into thinking that high-gear is acceptable all of the time. Rest. Slow down. Pray. 

   Busyness happens.  What do you do when it passes?  

   May you know the grace and peace of Sabbath. Scott

Sabbath Violations in...My Car?

Sabbath is the ancient practice of persons of faith of recognizing a day, or even longer, of rest for the purpose of celebrating God's provisions in our lives. It finds its origins in the very first words of the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis 1), and is then woven throughout the fabric of the story of God's people. Observing the Sabbath is given a place of prominence in the Decalogue, also simple the Ten Words and what we call the Ten Commandments.

Sabbath is one of the most underutilized gifts God has given. I will go further to say that it is being observed less and less to our great detriment. Modern women and men struggle more and more with embracing concepts of regular rest, as they submit to the increasing demands of work, the pursuit of success, and the difficult act of balancing these things with family and other demands.

But now I hear that it could be affecting my car? Stop the madness!

Toyota announced this past week that 2.3 millions cars were being recalled because the accelerator pedal was found to be potentially defective and in some cases would stick or be slow in returning. This has tragically resulted in more than 60 accidents and even four deaths on the day after Christmas. It seems that there is no easy answer to the solution, either. Some of you know I purchased a used Toyota in the Fall, and this news prompted me to investigate immediately. I was relieved to learn that while the recall involves a huge array of their models, it does not include mine. You can learn more from Toyota.

The lesson returns to our own need to know when to slow down and even stop. Things go very badly when we get stuck at one speed. We were not designed that way. We have been created to work, play and rest. All of these things bring Glory to the One who created us.