I'm a luddite!

It's confession time! I'm a reluctant convert to modern technology, I love to see all the modern technology and I'm awed by the amazing things that can be produced from something as tiny as a smart phone; but, if I'm honest I'm an old fashioned soul...

is

This is my preferred method of putting my thoughts on to paper, I have quite a little collection of fountain pens and I use one daily. I use different ones to make sure none of them are neglected or, horror of horrors, dry up!

This is how my preparation for meetings, talks, Kid's Club, Café Church starts, it's how the first half of "Joel, an unexpected hero" was written. Its great for someone like me who corrects as I go, its so easy to cross out, add in an extra line indicate with arrows the change of position for a sentence or paragraph because whatever I do I can't inadvertently press an innocuous looking key which has the power of a Storm Trooper to delete, destroy or lose forever that which I have laboriously written.

However, I am actually writing this directly onto my little tablet, editing as I go (very carefully) because I've come to accept that in certain cases it is a ludicrous waste of time to handwrite something only to then rewrite the same thing on a computer.

This was indeed my first computer! When Ben was about five we visited a small museum while on holiday, it had (to my delight) a small but interesting display about the development of writing, scrolls, parchment, codex, pencils, biros, fountain pens right up to typewriters one of which children could play on. Ben  delighted the elderly gentleman (seemed that way then, now, not so much!) by innocently asking where the delete key was!

Our first home computer was an Acorn Archimedes. a large, unwieldy, stubborn and highly uncooperative piece of technology bought solely to access some language programmes to help Ben, it hardly used because it was so unreliable and took such a long time to set up, and ben really didn't want to be bothered when he could look at a book! My current is a surface tablet (generation 1) Its no bigger than an iPad but it does pretty much everything a desk top or laptop computer can do, the only problem is that its petite design makes the screen very small!

Where is this going you ask, (I'm asking myself the same question!) Well, I realise my reluctance to embrace new technology, my distrust of it and my negative attitude to it can be sadly echoed in daily living. How many times in our Churches have you heard the words "But we've always done it this way!" Like technology new ideas, new ways of doing things are challenging our safe, tried and tested ways of doing things. As with technology  we must embrace change, we must be willing to try new things and accept that what was good for the fifties, seventies, nineties, even the noughties is not necessarily good for the teenage years!

I'm not advocating that we don't respect tradition and I'm not saying that the old ways are all bad or inappropriate, simply that I personally need to be open to changes and other ways of doing things as I'm learning to technologically.

God equips us, He gives us the very best in order that we can do our very best, who are we to ignore or reject His offerings?