Lead, Follow Or Stay Where You Have Always Been

Day 272 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Here's another "blast from the past" that I noticed in Wal-Mart this evening, road maps. I figured that some people would still use paper maps, but didn't figure that Wal-Mart would carry such a variety to choose from.

I would say the majority of those that travel these days use a GPS, their phones built in location service or print their own maps from the internet and that maps for purchase are on their way out. This has happened to a lot of old "technology" as well. Look at how the cell phone has revolutionized communications. I can go almost anywhere and call almost anywhere with a device that fits in my back pocket. Then back to the GPS subject, I can punch in an address in our GPS and have door to door, turn by turn directions in a few seconds. The unit will also tell me how fast I am going, what my ETA is, which direction I am headed, what elevation I am, my coordinates, where to find restaurants, gas stations and any other business I may be looking for. Now that is pretty amazing in my book.

There are some lone holdouts against technology. While I have always embraced the next levels in our technological evolution, many others are quite vehement about "keeping it old school". They will always use a paper map that they bought at a gas station. They will always search out a phone booth and not own a cell phone. They will even heat their food on a stove top for crying out loud. Technology is not a friend to some people and they are content to live in days gone by for whatever reasons. I would say that it is mostly fear of something new or just simple reliance on "how it's always been".

This also is how a lot of people view religion, Christianity to be exact. They have "always heard" things put certain ways. This is because they have always attended the same church, the one their parents and their parents attended. The preacher is the son of the son of the founding pastor and preaches in the same style, cadence and message as grandpa did. These kinds of people are so engrained in "what I always heard" that they rely on that as their plumb line to judge all other things by. In all actuality they should use the Word to compare all aspects of life, but sadly do not. Any thing "new" they hear is taken as a challenge to their beliefs, even if it is straight from scripture. They have a relationship with the preaching, know a lot of good stuff, but sadly do not know the Truth of God's Word in it's fullness.

This is not true in all cases as I am sure there are some 3rd and 4th generation church members that are spot on with their theology. There are usually exceptions to the norm and these folks are it. They love God and it shows. They love His Word and it shows. They love their pastor and their church family and it shows. They know that they have been graced by God and base their lives on scripture and not "what I've always heard". This is what I strive for, but because I was raised in a church that I first mentioned I constantly question everything that I "always heard". I lived in a lost and deceived state for 30 years because someone told me what they had heard from someone who heard it from someone who heard it. "Just say this little prayer and you'll be alright". That is what I "always heard" was the way of salvation.

I have since had the scales removed from my eyes and gloriously saved by my Lord. The "I always heards" have been replaced with "God show me your truths". I have been graced and blessed so undeservedly by God and thank and praise Him for every truth He places in my. What a Savior He is indeed!