Tom Tom or Good O' Map

Tom Tom or Good O' Map?
Posted on August 9, 2008 at 5:11 PM delete edit comments (3)
Tom Tom or Road Map? There?s a question!
Each have their value, Knowing how to have both working together is the optimum package!
I was raised from a young girl how to read road maps, how to navigate, how to quickly decipher a problem and reroute. I like to see the big picture, know where I am, where I?m going, how I may get there and all this in relation to what is within the areas I?ll be going through. Having recently gotten a TomTom I can see how great it is to have, how in a pinch it gives you the 'turn here, turn now' directions that we all need some times not just on the road but in life as well, BUT I would not give up my map for the world! Personally I feel like a horse being led by a carrot!
This past vacation, we found the new toy fun and helpful, but not completely accurate. Pulling a trailer with propane tanks, we are not allowed on certain roads, bridges or tunnels. Well guess, what - - - the GPS system didn't indicate those needed routes (perhaps we didn't know how to input those parameters) Out came the road map and the primary course was based on that and our understanding of certain laws, do's and don'ts.
I got frustrated because regardless of how cool, how convient, how new the gadget, it didn't quite give me the big picture I was looking for. In addition I found there was a tendancy using it to completely rely on it and not think on my own. Simply follow, no questions asked. It started me thinking, what if I left it at home, how lost might I be, how insecure would I find myself?
There is a huge push to create a generation to become completely dependent on technology. How many of us use a calculator to do simple math? Check the computer for everyday things? To call 411 instead of searching through a phone book? Or call a neighbor instead of walking across the street? I sometimes wonder if we know anything anymore, or do we just know how to have the information fed to us for the moment we want it? Sad, but I find myself there. And wonder how many of us are intelligently ignorant or worse, incompetent?
The problem with all the cool gadgets and new gizmos of technology proves to be the attachment and ultimate dependance we have on them. We ascribe to them so much authority that we don't think for our selves anymore, we stop utilizing the phenomenal capability of our God given brains. We have fun with all the bells and whistles, and granted they are great to have, they boost our confidence and ego but in the exchange do we surrender up our critical thinking skills?
This applies to our biblical understanding and Christian walk as well. Church is an important part of the Christian walk. Sunday Services can be a wonderful time of gathering together with others and recognizing the common faith in celebration of what Christ did for us. Church as an organized group of people under the direction of leaders can be one of the most instrumental ways for us to grow spiritually. But if Sunday service is the only time we are learning about what the Bible has to say about living our lives the way Christ would desire us to, then we are going around with a 'gps' sized window on our dashboard. It may be showing a magnified view but only a small snippet of a bigger picture.
With 365 days in a year if all we are learning is 52 hours with a few verses each time, then we are not getting to see the bigger picture, biblically or spiritually. And i f that is what we rely on to get us through life, then we may not make it. I've seen people so dependent on what others have to say, on what a church thinks or tells them, that when 'bugs' are found, or it all together breaks down, they are lost because they haven't been taught how to read the map for them selves, they've only been told they need to follow when told.
As Christians we each need to know how to read the ?road map? so that should the 'gps' have a bug in it, be unreliable, or the 'connection is lost' whether on our end; the battery dies or from the other end, there's no 'satellite connection' to the gps, our ability to understand the road map is still viable and allows us to continue on our way to the intended destination, despite any modern marvels or mishaps.
It's not necessarily the church's fault people don't know what their bibles say, unless the church isn't preparing the people to use the 'road map' because they think they do enough, or because they don't want people to question. Generally we are individually at fault. It is the human condition to be lazy. When we find an easy way why learn it the old fashioned way. We have a cool gadget, why learn to read a road map. We get told what the Bible is about, why learn for ourselves.
We as Christians should have the big picture in mind, and to do that we need to KNOW our bibles, the parameters of the Christian faith, the parameters of sin, the need for ?u-turns? (repentance), when to detour off of a ?broad way? that may lead us to ?sin city? and find the straight, perhaps narrow road that leads to life and help.
Bells and whistles are fun. The newest coolest thing on the market may make us feel really good about how we are progressing, but we don't want to become so enamored with the sensory stimulations, emotions and feelings they may produce with in us. What we need is true direction. Are we still sensitive to the internal registers and compass that we need to have to navigate through life on a spiritual level. Do we know which way we are headed, is it North or South? With out a GPS system, could we determine that by looking at shadows around us or a real map, or have we lost that capacity. Do we depend so much on a 2x3" feed that we no longer know how to open up the basic road map for life and find our way through what it tells us.
If anyone tells you that road maps or hardcopy books are obsolete, or a fading thing of the past, they are delusional. Regardless of the technology and different cool new ways to express the path before us, doesn't change the fact that it is still an actual road with dirt, grime and grit that needs to be traversed by each person individually -


Check out the website www.GraciousVine.com or www.JoannaFruhauf.com