I’m frustrated with Apple. The company not the fruit.  They make cool products but they also plan for them to be obsolete in a year or two.  And if for some reason, they still work then they update it to the point that it no longer functions.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I am both an Apple fan and asupporter.  I have a Mac desktop, laptop, iPhone, and iPad.  I ran my laptop into the ground.  It was great.  But I have both an iPhone and an iPad that while not being the newest models, still work okay, except that with all the updates, they barely function.  Half the apps on my iPad work, and my iPhone is so slow that it’s almost useless. Now, this isn’t an Apple bashing session.  I suppose it’s just a different business model than artisans of the past.  People used to take pride in their work, making things that would last.  Now we make things that are very shiny, but are never intended to be long term.

As I was getting angry about my Apple products, it started me thinking about other things where this can be true as well.  Ministry, for example.  It is really easy to get sucked into the idea that we have to have the biggest, loudest, coolest methods and machinery in our ministry, when we’re not really building things that will last.   I think this is especially true in youth ministry.  Sometimes we can try so hard to attract students, thinking we must use so many tricks to keep their attention, that we can fail to really grow disciples.  There is a reason that many students leave the church when they go to college.  They have not grown into a mature faith.

Another area is parenting.  It is so easy to focus on today.  I have a tendency to want to pursue immediate obedience, possibly at the cost of what would actually be best for my kids.  One decision that causes immediate change might hurt our relationship, closing the door to future influence.  It is easy to want a child to act a certain way, but I might not be helping them become the kind of person that would choose that path.

I just wonder in our lives what decisions do we make that cause today to be better or easier instead of investing in something that lasts.

Thoughts?

Todd