Somebody in Atlanta…

   I had intended to post something substantive earlier today, but alas, my internet access has been down for several hours and has just come back on.

    After some investigation, I found out that somebody in Atlanta cut a fiber-optic cable and knocked out service to all of my ISP’s clients in the entire southern part of Georgia.

   I know that it wasn’t any of my readers who live in the Atlanta area…was it? 😉

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Welcome Aboard

Welcome to the new home of Heavenly Heartburn. For some time now I have been very dissatisfied with the technical inconsistency of Blogger. At the recommendations of some blogging friends I have decided to move to WordPress. (Thanks Steve and Tim).

Making this move will allow me to do several things that I have been wanting to do for some time now. It is my hope that visiting Heavenly Heartburn will enhance your walk with Christ. I want my blog to be a place where worship, missions and discipleship is promoted. For this purpose, I have added several pages that contain links to music, missions, books and resource sites. I hope that you will explore them and take advantage of them.

I also want to take this opportunity to reaffirm the purpose of Heavenly Heartburn. From time to time I get asked where did I come up with the name. It is based on the response of the disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, “Did not our hearts burn within us as He expounded the Scripture?” I hope that as I share what God is teaching me on my journey it will cause the flame of your passion for Christ to be kindled to greater heights.

I want my blog to be a place that honors God. I hope that those who visit will find that it is a site where they can discuss, pray, share and laugh with others in a spirit of gracious Christian fellowship. I hope that iron will be sharpened here and that each of you will be encouraged to serve God more in His kingdom.

So come on in, make yourself at home, look around and check out all the new things. I always enjoy hearing from you so leave a comment and check out some of the links (more will be added soon).

 God bless.

Under Construction

Welcome to all who may stumble across this blog. I am currently in the process of moving from Blogger to WordPress. It is a work in progress so everything isn’t just like I want it to be, yet.

 If you want to visit my operational blog, just click this link. (Link has been disabled since this is now my operational blog.)

Technical Problems

I apologize if anyone has been having problems loading my blog recently. I don’t know exactly what the problem is, but I have been difficulty loading it myself. Has anyone else had trouble?

Cell Phones Redialed

It occurred to me that someone could get the idea from my last post that I hate cell phones. If I may put this in a spiritual context (this IS a Christian blog, after all), I may not like the technology, but I do not hate the cell phone owners.

As I said, there have been times when cell phones have done some good. And no, I do not honestly believe that cell phones are really a blight on our society (not too much of one, anyway). I may have exercised a little hyperbole to make my point about proper use in funerals, church services and other situations where they do not need to be used.

It is just that we are becoming a slave to technology. We have created all of these wonderful gizmos that are able to do so many things, and yet as it turns out, they rule our lives. Think about it: someone invents an alarm clock, now it tells us when to get up (okay, maybe that is a little extreme). But how long are we up in the morning before we log onto the internet to check our blog and e-mail? We go to work, and in most cases look at our computer to find out what it wants us to get done that day. Some of us are at the mercy of a coffee-maker, hair-dryer, microwave or refrigerator.

Have you ever been in an extended power outage? If you have, you realize how much free time you suddenly have on your hands when there is no electricity.

I realize the irony of writing about this on a computer and publishing it on the internet. I think this proves I am not the enemy of technology. My point is, when we let technology alter our behavior, cause us to act rudely or recklessly, or make us to be unaware of what is going on around us we have allowed it to become our master.

What I have shared with you is just one man’s opinion. I hope that we all will take inventory of our time, our life and our behavior and make sure that we are not under the thumb of things that were intended to be our tools.

Cellphones and Caskets

Pardon me while I rant (I don’t do this often).

Have we come to the place in America where being “connected” is more important than being respectful? I am convinced that cell phones are a blight on our society. I know, I know, a lot of good is done with them, it’s easier to get in touch with people in an emergency, business deals move more quickly, etc., etc.

But why is it that many people who have them feel compelled to talk on them at any given time for no good reason? I was behind someone on the road the other day who was driving in the left hand lane at the scorching speed of 40 mph (in a 55 mph zone). When I finally was able to get around her what do you think I saw? A cell phone that looked like it was permanently attached to the side of her head. Church services are regularly interrupted by a cell phone going off that someone forgot to turn off. And we don’t have traditional rings anymore, nooooo, we have every song imaginable that can be downloaded for a “personalized” ring-tone. Try bringing home the conclusion to a Sunday morning sermon while some red-faced church member nearly destroys a pew trying to find that cell phone playing “Staying Alive”.

Technology forecasters predict that in the not-to-distant future cell phones will actually be able to be surgically implanted in their owners head. Anyone who would do this should seriously consider having something else implanted in their head.

I am not ranting at random here, there is a good reason for it. Yesterday I helped conduct the funeral of a 32-year-old man who had died after being in a coma for 3 months. The family was very distraught. During the service, cell phones went off three times. You would think people would turn them off before they came in the chapel. Of course, it’s possible that they forgot, but even so, the first one should have given them a clue to turn theirs off, but noooooo, three lucky people got to do the curly shuffle while trying frantically to turn off those cursed things that were cranked up to maximum volume.

The worst part? The first one that rang was actually answered by the woman who owned it. She carried on a brief conversation while the other minister was trying his best to bring comfort to the bereaved. Had it not been a funeral service, I would have been tempted to implant it in her head.

Can I submit that there is nothing more rude and disrespectful than this? Have we come to think so highly of ourselves as to honestly believe that the person calling us must absolutely talk to us that very second? Will the stars fall if we don’t answer that phone? I say, turn the thing off. Leave it in the car. Better yet, leave it in front of the tire, THEN forget about it.

I am sorry to vent this way, I really don’t do this often. But if this is happening here, it must be happening elsewhere, too. Folks, let’s not let connectivity cause us to be rude.

I feel better now.