Believe it or not, it was only 15 years ago today that Steve Jobs, the head of Apple, announced the imminent public launch of Apple’s first iPhone. When I heard this, I admit that I was dumbfounded! How can that only be 15 years ago? It seems like we have had iPhones and smartphones for much longer than that.
Certainly, the introduction of this engineering marvel changed our lives forever. Now each of us walks around with more computing power, by far, than Nasa had when we sent Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins to the moon back in 1969.
Similarly, we have all heard about the James Webb deep space telescope that has now fully deployed its heat shields and unfolded its complex mirror array – part of the $10 BILLION project that has been on the drawing board for more than 20 years. We thought the Hubble telescope was great – just wait for what the Webb is going to do when it arrives at its planned location 1,000,000 miles from earth within the year and peers deep into the cosmos. Scientists are hopeful that they will discover the origins of the universe and see light that was emitted more than 13 billion years ago. For those of us who are Christians, we already know the answer – God created the heavens and the earth!
We also have the introduction of autonomous automobiles and many other technological achievements that weren’t even dreams when I was a boy. Laptop computers and smart TV’s are everywhere; and we don’t need to buy albums, or CD’s or movies – we can get all our media streaming online. The world has changed.
One of the scary aspects of all this is the fact that things are changing at an ever increasing pace. Knowledge is growing exponentially and areas of speciality are becoming very narrow as there is so much to learn on any given subject. People just can’t master the body of information that is necessary to be up to date in a wide discipline.
While medicine and health care in general have made great strides in fighting cancer, developing new drugs and increasing our life expectancies overall, technology continues to advance beyond our wildest imaginations. Earlier this week, tens of thousands of people attended the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, usually the largest annual convention in the world. This year, it was cut short and many companies decided to “go virtual” but it speaks to the importance of technology that this show is so large.
But there is comfort in lasting relationships, family stability, familiar surroundings and known outcomes. We all need some base from which to operate – a dependable, predictable, reliable source from which we can grow and flourish. And that’s where God comes into the picture. No matter what is going on with technology and all the advances we are seeing every year, nothing is as dependable as God.
Our verse for tonight affirms that fact that God doesn’t change. The author of Hebrews tell us, in no uncertain terms, in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Simple; and true!
My encouragement this evening is that God is our steadfast rock – always there, whether we realize that we need Him or not. My prayer is that we will all be smart enough to cling to the One who created us and is our True North. Because with everything changing so quickly all around us, we need a firm foundation from which to love and grow. Have a great day in the Lord grace and peace…