I’m far too comfortable here with Lucy the downstairs cat on my lap and a mug of coffee on the table next to me to want to go upstairs and boot to the laptop. So it’s iPad to the rescue.
I confess I love my iPad. I’ve just watched last night’s Strictly on iPlayer. Played a few games of Sudoku (got to keep the brain exercised). Discovered fellow ACW member S.C.Skillman has put her new book, Mystical Circles, on Kindle as a freebie so had to stop and download that.
Sometimes I feel I’m living an almost science fiction life! Even five years ago – let alone ten – I would never have dreamed of being so comfortable with, using so much technology as part of my everyday life.
I remember a tv programme, Tomorrow’s World, which used to predict the things of the future. I’m sure I recall robots which would do the housework but not the Kindle or smart phone. Funny which things have been developed. Whose priorities decide? I’d particularly like an ironing robot – my least favourite task.
But what do we see when we look five, ten years ahead? Today’s lectionary readings were all about Christ the King so I preached on the sovereign authority of Jesus now and when He comes again. When we strain to see into the future, to enable us to be good stewards and make wise plans, do we build in anywhere the idea of the Second Coming? Or is that too fantastic an idea?
The Bible teaches us that it’s not the theological equivalent of science fiction or Tomorrow’s World’s predictions. It’s a sure thing. A certainty.
Our only room for manoeuvre is deciding if we’re going to be with the wise or the foolish virgins.
When I clicked on my iPlayer to download last night’s Strictly, a message flashed up suggesting I plug in my iPad charger so the battery wouldn’t flatten.
I wonder how many folk realised it was a good idea to go to church today to plug into the true Source and top up their batteries for the week ahead? And how many put it off, or don’t see the point?
It’s really horrid to realise, if you follow the details of Jesus’s Second Coming to its conclusion, that there will be people who have left it too late.
That puts a whole new urgency into what we’re doing – writing, saying, communicating. We need to stay powered up for the task.
dorothystewartblog 
I would have dearly loved to have an iPad but it was outside my budget, my friend Ian and his partner both have them and they look great fun. We must get together sometime and catch up on the news. Pat and John’s talk went well although poor John had a bad throat.
I blew my ALCS payment on it – they caught up with me after all these years so it was worth having! Really useful when I went up to my sister’s
As someone who is quite regularly ‘running on reserve battery power’ I know just what you mean. Why do I leave it until I’m nearly empty before I recharge?
Thankyou for the thought-provoking last two lines. A call to renewed faith in prayer.
Thanks, Helen. That encourages me to say the true stuff.
Thank you Dorothy for downloading my novel on Kindle & I hope you enjoy the story. I appreciated your post too – I thought it was very thought-provoking. Just as we find it difficult to predict what technology will be developed in the future, so we find it difficult to grasp the reality of the Second Coming. Your image of keeping batteries recharged was very appropriate, & the parable of the Wise & Foolish Virgins is the exact equivalent of that, with their oil lamps. When I think of the anguish that can be caused by batteries running out at the wrong time… I realise how strong the comparison is.Thank you for your post!