Good morning!

            I had a dream the other night in which I had a high-power job that was extremely demanding. After years of pushing myself to the edge of my sanity, I became careless. One day, as I was driving to work, I found myself driving as if I were in a dream. Then he woke up and found myself in my garage with my body in the passenger seat and my feet on the brake and gas pedals. It was at that moment when I decided to take the day off because I had so many days of vacation and sick time. After digging myself out of the car, I walked into the house and found my son and a friend of his sitting on the couch; my son was actively engaged in a video game and his friend was bored. When I asked my son where his brother was, he told me, “He’s in his room.” I tried without success to get my son’s undivided attention, but he remained engrossed in the video game. I would have shut down the internet but then I remembered that he had a cell phone.

            We have an age-old problem in our world today that is ever widening, we have lost touch with the truth (John 18:37) and we have lost touch with family, friends, and most important, the Lord. In a statistical report written by backlinko.com, as of the third quarter of 2024, young adults age 16-24, females spend 7 hours and 35 minutes and males spend 7 hours and 11 minutes on the computer. In the US, people in their 20s spend 28.5 hours per week on the internet for recreational purposes (Back Link Statistics). These numbers are only a small sample and are, if we are honest with ourselves, would be much higher. Then we wonder, “Why is our world going to seed?” Then we wonder why there is so much anger, hate, and animosity in our world. According to a website, depression, in the US alone, over 18 million adults are being treated for Mental Illness, leading cause of disability for ages 15-44, over 41,000 people have committed suicide each year (Mental Illness). My point is this, we say, “Rapture is coming! It says in Revelations” yet we do not see what is right in front of us. The Devil rejoices in triumph to see God’s creature so warped, bent, and hurting simply because we refuse to talk to each other face-to-face. My encouragement for you today is, block out a day or days to unplug from technology devices and plug into the Word of God and learn to talk to people in such a way as to compare notes and develop or redevelop friendships. We will never rid ourselves of hatred because there are people in this world who do not want peace, and they could be the same people your child is playing video games with over the Internet, chatting with, and emailing.

Father,

            We need You in our lives! You made us to live in society so that we would learn from each other but how can we learn about society behind a computer screen (Ecclesiastes 4:8-12)? When we isolate ourselves from You and the people around us, misunderstandings get in the way, create animosity, and lead us to war. In the words of St. Francis of Assisi, please help me to understand my fellow man by reaching out to him/her. Let me not be so concerned about myself and my pains as to be concerned about my neighbor; to be a light in dark place (John 1:5); help me to be the voice in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3). I pray for my fellow humankind tonight Lord that you will speak to their hearts and create a yearning for you (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

In Jesus’ Holy Name

I.H.S. MK