Your Open Word e-Devotional for November 24th

Published: Thu, 11/24/16

Hello ,

We are a nation of complainers. When I was a kid we had to dial a rotary phone. If you've forgotten rotary phones, please let me refresh your memory. Please look at the picture above.

To dial a rotary phone, one had to actually stick their finger into one of the holes of the corresponding numbers and twist it around to the other side until their finger pushed up against the little metal curved thingy on the right hand side of the dial.

If you had a friend with lots of "ones" in their telephone number, dialing wasn't a big deal. If they had a great number of "zeros" we sometimes felt like dialing was going to be a little more daunting this time around.

We were thankful that we could actually talk to someone on the other end though, even though we might have to wait for Mrs. Smith on the party line to get done talking.

If people were not home, their phone just rang and rang until we hung up our phone on the other end. We couldn't leave messages...we just waited to call at another time...but we were still grateful. I remember the first phone that we had at our house in the early 1970's...and I STILL remember our first number.

This is NOT a rotary phone! You can carry it with you everywhere you go. When you're lost, it will contact a Global Positioning Satellite and tell you where you need to go. You can capture movies and photos with it and then post them on the Internet for the entire world to see....within seconds.

A new baby in the family, and you can't be there? Not an issue! With a Smartphone you can actually have live video chats with people on the other end. You can see the smiles, hear the laughter, and watch that new grandchild cuddling with her mother.

Want to see what temperature it is in your area? Touch your finger to the "weather" application on the home screen. Want to access a verse in the Bible? Simply talk to the phone and tell it to find you the verse. Want to have the Open Word e-Devotional read to you? You text to speech recognition software and HEAR my messages.

I can't even get into ALL the functions that Smartphones can put into your hands.

And yet, I've found myself complaining when I can't access my e-mail on my phone. I've caught myself whining that my ringtones don't match the person I'm trying to call.

Reality check!

God is good to us each and every day, REGARDLESS of whether we have a Smartphone or a rotary dial. Every day we have reason to rejoice and give thanks.

Lord, help me to get Godly perspective on all the things I need to be thankful for. You are SO good to me, and I owe you a huge debt of gratitude...no matter WHAT material possessions I DO or DO NOT have.

Have a great day and God bless!

Pastor Mike / The Open Word