Moment by Moment:
(Click for Audio) I am a very conscious driver. Yes, and conscientious. My primary focus is to know what’s around me, and the moment by moment challenges I face to stay safe. My “other” primary focus is knowing what’s happening down the road. I focus close, and I focus farther away.
It’s like a two dimensional view of the world. See close. See far. Moment by moment! It’s almost like watching the clock tick second by second, I watch close…and far…Seconds and minutes, minutes and hours, morning and night.
This works most of the time so I know how to react to what’s occurring within bodily range, and what’s happening with traffic flow down the road. I want to react to BOTH equally to make the best use of the road, and my time. I HATE getting stuck in the wrong lane of traffic because someone decides to turn when the traffic is heaviest in the opposite direction.
Last night I experienced something strange. I must have drifted off into distraction for a moment. There was an SUV in front of me, and the next thing I knew it was gone. I had not even noticed that it must have turned, and my memory was blank on knowing where, and when, they had disappeared.
That moment by moment view of life was history. Gone. Poof. Kaput!
What worried me the most was not where the SUV had gone, or even when it had gone, or even why it had gone! My real worry was that I did not even notice it making a choice to do something different. My distraction level must have been high, but I have no memory of being distracted by the night. I must have been on autopilot, deep in thought about a meeting I had just left, and just reacted appropriately to the change. Unconsciously.
I missed a moment, you know, that minute portion of time. A sliver. Here. Then not here. Gone. Poof. Kaput!
We are moving into a world of “driver-less” cars. You know. Computer driven. Some software engineer making my car choose to react one way or another, depending on sensors and computers that operate at high speed, and I will probably be sitting there reading a book, checking email, or engaged in an important Face Time event with my granddaughter.
Some say these cars will have no manual control for a “driver” to take over. It will be either the computer in control, or no one in control… Scary thought. I’m not sure how many times you experience a hiccup in your internet, or dropped calls on your mobile phone, but I believe I want some manual control options! For my safety!
By one analysis, we will see these cars hit the mainstream in about 10 years and it will change our entire transportation structure! No longer will we be weaving in and out of lanes trying to arrive at our destination on time. We will simply let the computers decide what’s best and get us there at the appropriate time! No more control by the individual. Will we even need seatbelts? Who knows? Maybe we will no longer require passing lanes, HOV lanes, or even more traffic lanes as the cities get larger and larger
We will be controlled by a new way of thinking!
Here’s my thought: Can we go through life with someone else being in control? Are you willing to turn your world over to a governing authority and let them make all the decisions about your life and choices?
In my first college class at Lee College, Baytown, Texas, my instructor had us watch “films”. A lot. It was a Speech class and here we were watching things like “Soylent Green” and “THX 1138” … Both science fiction stories about a very uncertain future. Do your own research, but I’m not so sure I would want to live in either future. One had you eating a product for nourishment that came from a strange source, but you were not allowed to live past a certain age of non-productivity. The other had everyone living in a drugged state to create a stable and productive work force.
Most of us wish for a stable environment that we can live in and enjoy our moments. Other than the events that happen outside of our control, we do many things to keep ourselves in control. With the turmoil elsewhere, I think it’s a great idea to work hard on controlling the things we can control.
The Apostle Peter wrote in his second epistle that there were things we should do to make our lives productive. These are moment by moment choices we make to stay in control.
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8 NKJV)
What was Peter saying? With all diligence, make your life a positive thing. Moment my moment. Stay in control. Improve your self, because you know you will probably never improve others.