257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105
(262) 763-3021
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We have purchased land on Highways A & W and are planning to build soon!
Drive by and take a look at our future home!
“The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.”
Joseph Priestley
July 26th, 2009
Thumb jockeys are on the rise. You've seen them. They’re at the movies, on the plane, in the elevator, at church and now they are even showing up in bathrooms! Thumb jockeys are on the rise!
Thumb jockeys are those techno absorbed people whose eyes are squinted and fixed on tiny screens as their thumbs pound away on the miniature keyboards of their high-tech electronic leashes, otherwise known as cellular telephones. Talking is no longer enough. About 63% of Americans from the age of 18 to 27 are text messaging, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey. About 5 billion text messages are sent a month in the USA according to the wireless trade association CTIA.
Any pastor paying attention to his audience when he’s preaching can easily pick them out (you used to only have to watch out for sleepers). As you look out over the congregation, you’ll often see a handful of individuals texting during the service. The sad thing is that with the short time that we gather for corporate worship each week, it usually means that while the person is there physically, they may be a million miles away mentally...and spiritually.
In a world where attention spans are shorter than the fuse on a firecracker, thumb jockeys have an incredible ability to block out everything around them as they push, pull and poke out messages on their personal digital assistants.
Holding a live, in-person conversation with a thumb jockey is like trying to talk with an old west gun slinger in the middle of a gun fight. It’s nearly impossible to get a word in edgewise without the thumb jockey reaching for his holster to take yet another important telephone call, text message or e-mail. Thumb jockeys have become addicted to the very thing that was to provide them with more freedom and flexibility. The urge to check for the latest incoming communication is only pacified by special beeps, alerts and ring tones that indicate to the thumb jockey a new message arrived and who sent the message.
Bring back the Pony Express! We will survive without becoming thumb jockeys. Our craving for faster and more efficient communication is often robbing us of serenity, peace and relaxation. No, I'm not suggesting that we all renew our CB radio licenses but we have got to find a way of releasing ourselves from our cell-tower prisons.
And playing with one’s iPhone (or cell phone or Blackberry) during the sermon is going to distract you. You’ll be tempted to check your e-mail or read your Twitter feed that has nothing to do with the sermon. God's Word preached is so important, so precious; we don't want anything to distract us from hearing It. What if those two minutes in which I'm distracted are the two minutes my soul needs the most?
The most important thing a believer can do while sitting under the preaching of God's word is to listen to what God is saying to them...personally. We need to actively engage our hearts and minds to receive (Isaiah 66:2). Texting can take the focus off of hearing and receiving God’s infinite Word. So instead of our minds being engaged with thoughts of "What is the Word of God saying to me?" when I start texting my focus becomes, "What do I want to say? What do I want to express? What am I thinking?"
Then, we all need to ask what our example says to other people we're worshiping alongside. Can a person look at me during the worship and see from the way I sit, listen and engage that the Bible is "breathed out by God" (2 Tim. 3:16), and worthy of honor, that preaching is valuable? Of course this applies to a lot more than the issue of texting. If I'm nodding off to sleep, reading the bulletin, staring off into space or filing my finger nails it can send the wrong message, too. So what does someone think if they see me playing with my cell-phone during the sermon? "Oh, he must be so enamored with the truth of God's word that he's using his cell phone to share the truth he's just heard with the world! God, your word is glorious!" Uh, I really don't think so. They'll probably think, "I should pull out my phone...wonder if I've gotten any email."
The very fact that I can't imagine life without my cell phone concerns me. Can you relate? Just try going a day or two without your cell phone and see how lost you become.
You might be a thumb jockey if you can no longer type complete sentences without using abbreviations or are proud of your Bluetooth device and consider an ear bud a fashion statement. If beaming and syncing are words you associate with Star Trek and swimming, then chances are you are safe. But if you understand exactly what I mean, then you're busted. It is time you take a long walk and leave your electronic leash behind.
Here’s the real kicker. If we spent less time on cell phones and more time on our knees, the freedom we search for and the power we need for getting through the day would fill our lives.
Are you with me? If so, then send me a text. I'm kidding. I'm ready when you are. Periodically, let's take a vacation from our cell phones and reintroduce ourselves to our family and friends. And please don’t text or play games on your cell phone in church!
So what do you say? Go ahead. Turn your cell phone off. You’ll be glad you did.
