June+30,+2011

I looked in the rear view mirror as we traversed the coastal range toward McMinnville. It was my son's 11th birthday and we had our mind set on spending the day at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum. My youngest was glued to the DVD player blaring Chris Rock's voice as Marty the zebra. My oldest was passing time scrolling through her music selection she had just dumped onto my new iPad. The two middle progeny, each possessing an iPhone from my wife and me, were taking notes on how to best beat the next level of Angry Birds Rio. All four of them had immediate access to mobile technology, albeit some more "primitive" than others. It was really at that moment, as the car was quiet, save the dialogue between Marty the zebra and Alex the lion, that their world was going to be significantly different than mine. Their work and life technology as adults would make my iPad feel like pong. I'm not sure how I felt about that. Indeed, the world was tumbling in that direction, and they would need the faculties to access such a rich highway. Yet, the more technology was involved, the more layers existed between the actual human experience. Is it possible that all of this technology is eroding away our human interactions and relationships? Is it possible that people are moving further away from the relational experience that draws us closer to God and to each other? Could technology make both richer experiences? I'm not sure how to answer that yet. I do know, that the 3 minutes of peace I enjoyed in the car erupted into laughter as my youngest passed gas and declared, "Oh yeah, baby!" It was then I decided that even technology can't keep us away from the most important things in life.