I recently read an article by Chad MacDonald, host of Charisma podcast network’s The Voice of Revival. He shared a story of being detained by hostile forces in a land barely open to the gospel. The soldiers confiscated his cell phone and began scrolling through it. He reported that they deleted all his pictures and gave it back to him. That got me to thinkin’. I decided to take a critical look at the contents of my phone.
My screen saver is a picture of my grandkids. Harmless enough, then you could peruse the app icons. There are the universal ones like messages, phone, maps etc. It’s the other apps that give you insight into my priorities. The apps I have deemed important enough to take up storage.
The Weight watcher’s app would make you think I was trying to lose weight, at any given time, that might or might not be accurate. Facebook and Instagram apps indicate I’m into social media. The Instagram is strictly for “reader engagement”, a term used in publishing these days.
The second screen gave me pause. You can learn a lot about me by scrolling through this screen. The top row contains in this order, Chick Fil A, Andy’s, Fuzzy’s Tacos and Starbucks. These are followed by a “folder” containing Hobby Lobby, Michaels, JoAnn, Target, Macy’s and King Soopers. The Southwest Airlines app features prominently in the middle of the screen. I have a news app for breaking weather reports which is far less important in Colorado but vital in Oklahoma. The rest of them include financial apps for book sales, a few required to access coupons and tickets and of course The Chosen app.
My “notes” icon revealed 17 notes dating back as far as September of 2018. 4/17 are sermon notes, 5 are passwords, pick up codes, addresses, phone numbers that I need on hand frequently, 2 of them were a jumble of numbers, times, letters that I have no idea what they were,(trashed). 4/17 are ideas for writing, crafts, book launches and gifts. The remaining one tells you nothing but tells me a great deal. It’s an email for a young man, Eleazar. Check back next week for his story.
My phone boasts 1349 photos and 28 videos. They range from December 2017 to yesterday. I triple hate using my phone as a camera, but Instagram demands it. The other pictures are totally spontaneous and candid. The ones I didn’t expect to photograph. The real story of my life. A group of old friends, grandchildren playing in the pool, my girls having lunch at the American Girl Store, a Kindergarten graduation, ChaCha dates, Vintage sisters having lunch at a world renown golf course, Colorado friends at an outdoor concert.
In this age of social media where everything can and will be captured by a photo. I’m reminded that the public can now see things only Jesus used to see about me. I breathe a sigh of relief as my scrutiny reveals nothing embarrassing on my phone. There are plenty of embarrassing selfies there, but nothing to embarrass my Lord and Savior. I expect I’ll be a bit more careful in the future when downloading. How about you?