One day I had the awful job of disposing of a lamb that had died. Instead of burying it, for fear of dogs digging it up, I decided to burn the remains. I placed the dead animal in a steel burning barrel, doused it with some gasoline and was about to toss in a lit match when another thought crossed my mind. This might be a good time to burn that growing pile of chicken feed sacks in the barn.
I blew out the match and marched off to the barn. We were raising over 30 chickens at the time and they ate a lot of feed which accounted for the mountain of paper feed sacks. I grabbed as many as I could handle and stuffed them into the burning barrel. I went back for more and kept cramming them in until the barrel was brimming over. I splashed some more gasoline onto the sacks then stood back and lit a match.
If you know anything about ballistics then what happened next won't be as shocking to you as it was to me. I tossed in the match and the trapped gas underneath the packed bags combusted like gunpowder in a giant cannon and shot the feed sacks sky high. The noise of the explosion was terrifying enough but now I had to deal with flaming pieces of feed bags raining down from the sky while running around stamping out small fires in the process. When everything was finally under control, I was left to ponder my innocent but careless use of fuel which backfired and put me and my family in danger.
In the same way, have you ever thought about entertainment as a kind of fuel that should be handled carefully? If not, you should. Media plays a large part of what fuels the hearts and minds of our generation. We mistakenly think "it's just entertainment", "it's harmless fun", "it's innocent amusement". All the while teens, children and adults lives are blowing up with various issues and we wonder where the mess is coming from.
We're shocked at the reports of teen sexuality, depression, suicide, rebellion, anger, discontentment, boredom, drug abuse, loneliness and more. The fuel keeps being poured on while the statistics reveal an explosion of careless ballistics.
The Bible says in Ephesians 5:15-17, "So be careful how you live. Don't live like ignorant people, but like wise people. Make good use of every opportunity you have, because these are evil days. Don't be fools, then, but try to find out what the Lord wants you to do." And in Romans 16:19 it says "…but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil."
These instructions are not given to make life more difficult for us but to protect us from our own foolish tendencies to accidentally blow things up. Entertainment is not going away and neither is the potential for it to wreak havoc in our lives if we're not careful. I am often asked about my opinion on specific media choices and my pat answer is… we cannot be too careful but we are often too careless.
I blew out the match and marched off to the barn. We were raising over 30 chickens at the time and they ate a lot of feed which accounted for the mountain of paper feed sacks. I grabbed as many as I could handle and stuffed them into the burning barrel. I went back for more and kept cramming them in until the barrel was brimming over. I splashed some more gasoline onto the sacks then stood back and lit a match.
If you know anything about ballistics then what happened next won't be as shocking to you as it was to me. I tossed in the match and the trapped gas underneath the packed bags combusted like gunpowder in a giant cannon and shot the feed sacks sky high. The noise of the explosion was terrifying enough but now I had to deal with flaming pieces of feed bags raining down from the sky while running around stamping out small fires in the process. When everything was finally under control, I was left to ponder my innocent but careless use of fuel which backfired and put me and my family in danger.
In the same way, have you ever thought about entertainment as a kind of fuel that should be handled carefully? If not, you should. Media plays a large part of what fuels the hearts and minds of our generation. We mistakenly think "it's just entertainment", "it's harmless fun", "it's innocent amusement". All the while teens, children and adults lives are blowing up with various issues and we wonder where the mess is coming from.
We're shocked at the reports of teen sexuality, depression, suicide, rebellion, anger, discontentment, boredom, drug abuse, loneliness and more. The fuel keeps being poured on while the statistics reveal an explosion of careless ballistics.
The Bible says in Ephesians 5:15-17, "So be careful how you live. Don't live like ignorant people, but like wise people. Make good use of every opportunity you have, because these are evil days. Don't be fools, then, but try to find out what the Lord wants you to do." And in Romans 16:19 it says "…but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil."
These instructions are not given to make life more difficult for us but to protect us from our own foolish tendencies to accidentally blow things up. Entertainment is not going away and neither is the potential for it to wreak havoc in our lives if we're not careful. I am often asked about my opinion on specific media choices and my pat answer is… we cannot be too careful but we are often too careless.
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Fuel by Phillip Telfer
When I moved from Chicago out to a small farm, I learned the importance of keeping a container of fuel on hand to run outdoor equipment. I also learned to have a better appreciation for its useful yet volatile nature.
When I moved from Chicago out to a small farm, I learned the importance of keeping a container of fuel on hand to run outdoor equipment. I also learned to have a better appreciation for its useful yet volatile nature.
