Confessions of a techno geek...

I am a techno geek. I admit it. I should be in a 12 step program somewhere. I have not always owned up to this sickness, often I have conceded that it is a symptom of some other malady. (“My job requires me to use the computer…” or “I use it for research, you know for the scripture class I teach…”) I am here admitting to the blogging world that these things are not true. I WANT to do these things. I love the technology that is computers, PDA’s, cell phones and the World Wide Web. I have a deep-seated need to stay abreast of what ever new thing comes out. I was recently watching a news interview and heard a new description for this thing that I am. I am an “early adopter,” which for the uninformed, is someone that picks up the new gadget before it has become mainstream. I thought to myself, these are my people! I could even look at the featured “early adopter” a little piously; I was not as bad as he was. He had a 3 bedroom ranch that had slowly evolved into a shrine for technology, I could still fit my junk, uh... gadgets in my one bedroom apartment. I gleefully went about my business thinking I really was not that addicted now, was I.



When you love something, even as much as I do technology, it is so easy to fall into a predictable pattern. You begin to justify why you spend so much time, effort, and energy in pursuit of this thing you enjoy. Or worse yet, pretend you don’t have trouble controlling the amount of time you spend pursuing your “hobby”. I’ve had a couple of “hobbies” that have taken up way too much time in my day to day life. And since I’m confessing here, I’ll say that in addition to being a techno geek I am also a Star Trek fan. (I can hear the gasps across the internet link from our 2 subscribers.) Yes, yes, I know a double geek threat. One day, however, I realized that these seemingly innocent pastimes of mine were slowly edging out God and my service to Him.
The Lord showed me, in a quiet way, that this was not where he wanted me to spend my spare time. Instead of trying to be a vessel that He could use, I was filling my vessel up with things that were not spiritually edifying, that had no real redeeming value. Oh, I could probably win a Star Trek trivia contest, and I can usually fix computer malfunctions but what good was that going to do for me if called upon do a work for Him?

I tried to convince myself, even after the Lord’s promptings, that I could handle things. I could still do the things I like AND work for God, right? I was in a state of denial so deep I couldn’t even find the zip code. Thankfully, the Lord didn’t give up. I realized that anything that comes before my service to God is just as bad as worshiping idols. Some may read that and say, “wait just a minute, how do you figure that?” Well, the dictionary defines idol as any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion. In essence, that’s what I was doing. There was one point when my favorite version of Star Trek was moved from one weeknight to another. The new night was the mid-week service at church. This was, of course, a terrible tragedy. I made sure I remembered to set the VCR, (yes, it was VCR’s then, DVD recorders were not mainstream yet), to record the program while I was at church. When I forgot to do that I was inconsolable. This was when I knew I needed the 12 step program I mentioned earlier. The bible cautions us against having “idols” in our lives. It’s even in the 10 commandments. One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 2:8 “Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:” It was so easy for me to spend my time, energy and resources following these things that were fun, but at times I shirked the commitment I made to God when I promised to serve him to the best of my ability. And if I'm really honest with myself I was doing just what that scripture says.

So, I, reluctantly at first, began to reduce the amount of time spent in increasing my knowledge of the world of sci-fi and technology and increased the amount of time spent in scripture study. A funny thing happened. The Lord blessed me and allowed me to do things I would have never imagined I could do in my life. I found that giving up those empty pursuits didn’t really bother me that much. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoy watching a good sci-fi movie and I will probably always have some degree of technology envy, but I will never regret the choice to put God first in my life. Really, and truly first.

And besides, blogging doesn’t really fall into the whole technology thing, right?!? I wonder if there are bloggers anonymous meetings…I’ll have to Google that.