I admit it; I have been a "gadget junky" ever since 1992, when I got my
first computer. It wasn't that long after I got my first cell phone and,
Brother, I was hooked. I resist buying the latest and greatest, and I avoid
updating software like the plague. But still, I enjoy the gadgets and many
times have found them to be helpful to my ministry. I had a PDA early on in
their history and remember telling my wife not would be wonderful if the
engineers would design and cell phone/PDA in one gadget. When the smart phone
came out I was early on the bandwagon. And I learned very early that those
smartphones could be used for other things, like reading books. In the early
days I found books posted on a website and read them right off the Site. Not
long after my phone had the capability to read books in pdf format. Very
shortly thereafter my phone was capable of reading almost any electronic book.
And I used it for that.
It was a natural then, for me to become interested in the electronic
readers like Kindle and Ipad. The first Kindle I purchased was actually a gift
for my oldest son. At the time I bought the second one for my second born son,
I was still reading with my smartphone. Two more e-readers and my wife and one
daughter in law were equipped. Me? Still using my phone. Then it was my turn. I
purchased an Ipad which I have thoroughly enjoyed. But there have been new
gadgets to explore. I watched the gadget world after the Kindle Fire came out
until I was able to buy a refurbished one for a discounted price. It has become
my typical nightstand reader, replacing first my phone and then my Ipad.
I now find myself packing not one but three electronic gadgets. My
problem is that each of the three does something so much better than the other
two that, to give up any one of the three would mean to compromise some
functionality.
My smartphone does the most.
Frankly, it comes the closest to being the go to gadget of the three. If
I could only have one it would be the phone. But it is just too small for Web
research and reading for an extended period.
The Ipad is a good research
tool.
However it has no phone capability and it would be a catastrophe to give
it that function. Also it's virtual keyboard is clumsy to me. It's just a
little too big for regular use. I much prefer the thumbs only virtual keyboard
on my phone. The Ipad is also large enough that it becomes uncomfortable to
read with it for any length of time.
My Kindle Fire is an ideal
reader.
I do not like it as a Web research tool, I hate its virtual keyboard, but
for reading books, especially in Kindle's proprietary format, it is hands down
the machine I like to grab.
To do without any one of them would be to compromise.
Here is the problem; compromise in its basest form, is always a loss. I
know our government glories in the art of compromise but compromise means
something is always lost. Washington
sacrifices pork spending to pass a bill that one side of the house believes is
essential. In order to get the legislative, executive and judicial branches to
cooperate, many times the thing they cooperate on has been so watered down with
compromise that it is in effect, ineffective. Compromise always means loss.
And when that compromise happens with eternal things the loss is very
often of eternal consequence. God's Word gives us no room for compromise.
- We are either saved
God's way or we are hell bound
- We are either at
peace with God or we are at enmity
- We are either
preaching truth or we are preaching heresy
- We are either
walking with the Lord or we are apostate
There is no reasonable compromise between the gospel of works and the
gospel of grace. The only option the Bible believer has is to contend for the
truth as he sees it in the Word of God. He may stand alone. His might be few in
number. But to compromise to gain a larger following or more acceptance among
the religious crowds is to suffer loss of doctrinal integrity.
Compromise always means loss.
Marvin
McKenzie
In
the fields
