God On Tivo

Once again I find myself caught up in the game of tv. I hope I am finding balance, but part of me understands the inherent nature of man to find solace in mind-numbing activities. I have heard much discussion about the "TiVo" world lately, and quite frankly I am having a hard time overcoming the "early adoption" tendencies of my personality. I have always been on the cutting edge; the first one to grab new technology and test it to its fullest. Which makes me want Tivo and every other gadget RIGHT NOW!!

As my wife and I continue to work on God's plan for our finances, we have made a conscious decision to cut out some of the "fat" in our budget, which means limiting our entertainment dollars. At first I complained mightily about this new restriction in my life, but I have come to realize that this has been one of the best decisions our family has ever made. Not only have we cut down on expenses, but we now have more time for other activities such as playing/working outside, family game night, reading, praying, and much more.

I love the phrase (and ideology) "turn a liability into an asset." In a way, this is exactly what we have done. What seemed a daunting blow to our entertainment pysche has bloomed into something none of us expected. TIME. Time for God, time together, time for others, time for ourselves. Isn't this exactly what Jesus stood for? Building relationships with God and others as a foundation for the human experience? Now I am not claiming total victory over the entertainment monster - I think we all need a little down time to rejuvenate our brain - I still have tons of challenges on a weekly basis. As a matter of fact, this is a horrible time of the year. Who can pass up "The Bachelor: Paris" (did ANYONE like Moana?), the witty humor of "House," the incredible travels of the "Amazing Race," the singing sensations on "American Idol" (which, by the way, I think America has voted correctly the past two weeks!!), the battles on "Survivor" (which is not as good this time around), blood and trauma on both "CSI" and "ER," and of course the newly popular, but VERY fun to watch "Gray's Anatomy." That doesn't even cover the series "24" or the mysterious "Lost."

But then again, I am winning the entertainment battle...right? Do you think God has us on "TiVo?" Maybe he skips through the boring parts, watches some stuff live, and quite possibly rewinds and re-watches our crazy maneuvers throughout the day. Sometimes I think we put God on TiVo but we never get around to watching His episodes. Instead we keep filling up our memory with a bunch of useless junk and never get around to watching the most meaningful episodes, or worse yet, our memory gets full so we dump our drives to fill up with some more useless stuff.

If you recorded God today and watched it back tonight, what would He be saying about YOUR life?