Yesterday I was reading periodicals that have stacked up on my desk and found some fascinating items. In the “strangest news of 2013” category, a man fell in his garden but didn’t know he had impaled himself in the head with a screwdriver until he saw himself in his car’s rearview mirror. Surgeons successfully removed the tool, which miraculously missed his brain. (I’m tempted to comment on the size of the brain in question.)
Meanwhile, last year a British fisherman stole a sea bass from a local aquarium and entered it in a fishing competition. He won a trophy and $1,300 in prize money for the 13-pound fish. When competitors recognized its distinctive markings he admitted his crime, but he’d already sold the fish at market. “All we got back was the head and the tail,” an aquarium spokeswoman said.
In technology news, I learned that “smart” clothing, which combines thin-film electronics and solar cells, will one day monitor your health and connect you to the Internet. I learned that projects are launching that will mine near-Earth asteroids for minerals. And I just found the “Better Bacon” app, with recipes for cooking “the most delicious bacon you’ve ever had.” Finally an app we all need.
Technology is progressing, but are we? Sixty-six percent of Americans worry about a terrorist attack on our community; 55 percent fear a mass shooting in our area. Fifty-nine percent of us disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the economy. And 60 percent of us would like to replace every single senator and representative. Twenty-nine percent of us believe the economy will never recover fully.
Albert Einstein called technological progress “an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” The great scientist knew that sharpening the axe only makes the criminal more capable of violence. Despite all our innovations, 70 percent of Americans say the country is “on the wrong track.” That’s because we need the kind of change no technology can create.
Only God’s love can transform the human heart. Your Father loves you with an “everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). Do you see yourself as he sees you? Philip Yancey: “Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc.) thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible’s astounding words about God’s love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?”
How would yours?
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