What’s the deal with cell phones? Everyone and their dog has one. Now you can get cell phones that take pictures, or ones where you can chose between a 1000 different ring tones, or you can email or send instant messages (oh wait, that’s old news). Cell phones are becoming little computers and cameras. Talk about luxury. No longer are cell phones used to simply communicate between person A and person B with the original normal “bell ring tone” (how boring). You know you are getting older when technology seems to be by-passing you. And I am just 24 years old! I really don’t get cell phones. I used to think they were cool. I used to even have one. It was one of those “flip-open” ones. Really cool. And cool matters. Cool matters so much that in such a poverty-stricken setting like DRC, where the majority of people are living stuck in survival mode just for food, water, and even shelter; most Congolese have cool cell phones. I am vexed. Am I completely blind here? Is the status of having a cool cell phone so much more important than the basic necessities of life? I don’t like it one bit. Sure the Western world is heavily influencing the whole world, for better and for some definitely worse. I don’t like it that the Western mindset of consumerism is seeping into every little poor nook and cranny of the world. Is the picture of someone communicating in style while the same people are stuck in the pit of poverty all that grand? I think this is further evidence that we are all products of sin.
One friend once told me that his youngest boy’s favourite new word to say was “pooh-pooh head”. He thought that this was further evidence of our fallen nature since birth. Definitely right on. But what about cell phones? I would seriously like to know how much the world spends annually on cell phones. If having a cell phone makes you cooler than a person who doesn’t have one, I want a cool one. Because I care about my image. I’ve been reading “Julius Caesar”, the play by Shakespeare. I went for a different read, and I got a slog of a read. This one quote was profound in an old English kind of way: “And, since you know you cannot see yourself so well as by reflection, I, your glass, Will modestly discover to yourself that of yourself which you yet know not of…” Interesting stuff. I can never see my own mug with my own eyes, except through a reflection, or by someone else telling me what my mug looks like. People around me have the privilege of looking at me with their true eyes, and not a “poor reflection” that I look at in the mirror every morning. I believe I am created to be told who I am from the outside, not from within me. What others say about me from the outside is important. I think there are 2 main voices we hear: God’s and not God’s.
I used to have a hot muscle car, a ’73 Camaro converted into a Z28. Arctic white with hugger orange racing stripes. 350 CI classic Chevy engine, packing around 380 ft. pounds of torque and 320 HP. A beautiful beast she was. My Dad and I started rebuilding it when I was in high school, when finally it was ready to hit the road during my first year at Bible College. I drove it for 2 years. During those 2 years, I was known as the “Cool Car Guy”. People around me knew me as this “Cool Car Guy”. Its not a bad label, I like cars and they like me. A close friend once mentioned to me that the day that I sold the Camaro it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I agree. I just walked away. I didn’t just walk away from a nice piece of metal and power, I walked away from a part of me. A large part of my identity was wrapped up in a lifeless nice piece of metal and power. I was losing my identity as the “Cool Car Guy”, I was cutting the umbilical cord to one of my first loves of life, I was losing myself. I didn’t know this at the time. The “Cool Car Guy” days are over, I no longer hear that voice saying that is who I am.
I believe its one of the amazing questions to ask God: How do you see me? Its wonderful because God longs to share how He sees me, I mean, He created me and all. I often hear how much I am loved; “Ben, you are My Loved One”. I cant fully grasp this. The God of the galaxies is telling this little pawn-of-a-human that he is loved, cared for; that my life has meaning with those 3 simple words. Its freeing to know who I am. This is what I am created for.