My, How We’ve Changed

Imagine life in the 50s and 60s, if you are old enough to remember then you understood that reaching out and touching someone by phone was something you managed closely because of the potentially high cost of requiring dialing assistance from an Operator. Long distance calls were spendy during prime time and the costs dropped later in the evening sometime after “prime time”. The distance was also part of the issue. The further away you called, the more expensive the call. Involve an operator? Expensive. There were times we would reverse the charges so that the called party could choose whether the call was worth the expense, and, if our lives were so ordered, then we could make calls and charge them to our home phone number.

Rotary phones gave way to push button, landlines give way to mobile technology, and slowly we’ve seen the death of the payphone that dotted the landscape. Phone numbers changed and today we think nothing about dialing 10 digit numerical streams to reach our next door neighbor or someone on the other side of the country.

Remember Calling Cards? Prepaid minutes that looked like a credit card that we could use to make long distance calls for a reduced rate. We memorized our digits so we could place calls using prepaid minutes and spend a few dollars less. This was an important way to save money.

Regardless. It was a process we were all familiar with.

Then. Mobile Phones. Upwards of $2 per minute insured you made quick and cryptic and coded calls. Now we think nothing about it and do not hesitate to send out our S.O.S.’s to get everyone involved because we can do it for just pennies a month. Most mobile phones are simply Smart Powerful Computers in our hands that can access all the resources we need at a moments notice!

Dealing with some personal things recently, I was sitting in a hallway more than a few miles away, and I watched people reach out and talk to others about all kinds of life situations. I could hear their half of the conversation as they shared the burdens they were caring, and how they responded to legal challenges or shared some passing story about life. Some voices carried too well, and others were just mumbles in the peanut gallery.

But everywhere, I noticed, people had their phones in their hands, to their ears, or were using earbuds to continually reach out and touch someone afar. This constant stream of connection is the change I’m talking about. No longer do we face our burdens, challenges or victories alone. No. We have to share. Text, Social Media, Email, Phone…

In a demonstration witnessed by members of Congress, American inventor Samuel F.B. Morse dispatches a telegraph message from the U.S. Capitol to Alfred Vail at a railroad station in Baltimore, Maryland. The message–“What Hath God Wrought?”–was telegraphed back to the Capitol a moment later by Vail.

History.com

For a strange reason, yesterday, this made me think about Jesus. He’s about to face the biggest challenge any person could face. He takes his disciples to the Garden for a night of prayer and watching, bids his three closest compadres to go deeper with him, but then steps even further away from everyone to deal with his burden. Alone. Scripture even tells us he “falls on his face.”

It’s true. His disciples are but a stone’s throw away, but his trial of the centuries requires him to deal with his situation in private.

Jesus. His test will show out in public,
but his strength is built
and needs are met
when he deals with the future by himself.

At several points, he comes back to the three and finds them slumbering while he faces his future challenge. One time he challenges them to stay awake with him, and pray, but the next time he simply lets them sleep while he faces the challenge alone. (Matthew 26:40-45)

Here’s my thought for today. Sometimes the hurdles of life have us surrounded by supporters and a cheering section, or by a jeering and hateful group who want nothing but to see us put down, and kicked to the curb.

Yet, often the biggest battle we face is when we step into our prayer closet (Matthew 6:6) alone and face the challenge with prayer as our constant companion. It’s in the middle of solitary prayer that I find my challenge conquered. Jesus was ministered to by angels giving him strength for the trial (Luke 22:43), but he still prayed and agonized through the night by himself.

Somewhere, in the midst of your greatest trial,
you will find the resources needed
for strength to face the challenges.
Alone. Or in the public purview.

Now. Do not discount the help you can so easily reach for, but know this for a certainty. Your biggest win will come when you face the challenge by yourself in that inner room(closet) of prayer (Matthew 6:6). This is where you will find the strength to face the enemy ahead, even if it means a certain loss or pain. It’s when you enter that prayer time alone that you test your mettle to facing the challenges of life knowing you’ve prepared in solitude for the battle in public.

“The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.”

Thomas Edison

Marshal your resources in solitude, but use all your strengths when you come out swinging. Those strengths will include others, but you will be better prepared when you first prepare alone.

How about you? How do you prepare for the challenges you know about, or even for those that spring themselves on you unbidden and unseen? Care to share? You may have just the method another needs to hear. You may be the resource another needs. Right now.