Turn Your Eyes

I very rarely watch TV in the mornings before I head to the office. But yesterday morning I had a little time and decided to do a load of laundry before I came in, so while I was waiting for it to dry I sat down and turned on the television. I had forgotten how educational morning TV can be!

I turned it on just as they were showing a teaser clip about a story they would be running 'in just a moment.' The video caught my attention, so I sat through the commercials until the program came back on. The story was earth shattering! I could not believe something like this hadn't been discovered before! What would I have done had I not sat through this life changing story?!? (In case you can't tell I'm being sarcastic.) The story? Texting on your cell phone while driving is dangerous!

Gee! I would have never figured that one out!

Maybe you saw the clip. Some guy driving a bus, (knowing there was a camera on him! duh!), is reading or sending a text message as he makes his way through traffic. On the video you see him look up from his phone and wince just as he hits the car in front of him. I felt sorry for the poor guy. Not because of the wreck, but because millions of people got to see his stupidity over and over again on NBC.

Now the question for all you texters and tweeters out there, "How many times have you sent a text while driving?" I have to admit I have. (This is why I don't have a video camera installed in my car.) I'm also glad my state is passing legislation to make it illegal so I will quit doing it!

The fact is, once you start texting, tweeting, twittering, or checking emails on your phones, Blackberry or IPhone, it becomes addicting. Every time your phone makes a noise you feel you have to look at it. After all, it might be something important. Someone may have updated their status on Facebook to, "Lying by the pool with a cold glass of iced tea!" Someone may be texting you, "Call me!" Or someone may have updated their twitter saying, "Can't talk now, I'm driving a semi for the first time!"

I know. I have a hard time not looking every time my phone beeps. It's like there is so much going on around us it's hard to just stay focused on anything else. Dorrie brought this to my attention the other night when she was telling me about her day and right in the middle of her sentence I took out my phone and started replying to a text someone had sent. (My phone never even beeped, I just sensed the message coming through!) She made some comment about being replaced by a Blackberry, but I didn't hear everything she said. I was busy.

Last night as we were watching TV though, I let several messages come through and never even picked up my phone. I was actually focused on my wife. Sometimes we do have to remind ourselves that there are more important things for us to be focused on. Like our spouse. Driving. Work. Faith.

One main reason I don't watch too much TV is because it is all so negative. I know this sounds cliche, but for me it is true. I know people who's days are consumed with worry about Swine flu, the economy, heart disease, water boarding and the like. All worries driven by the media. There is something more important than all that.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

The writer of Hebrews says it this way, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

My challenge to you today is to set aside a period of time where you fix your eyes on Jesus. Turn off the TV. Turn off your IPod. Turn off your Blackberry. Turn off your cellphone. And turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Then text me and let me know how it went!