Institute Learning - Part 1

So yes...you all know I am in the New Hope Uganda Institute class for my first 5 months in Uganda and wow...I wish everyone could go through this training.

The first day they told us "welcome to the journey of relationships and transformation"

I wasn't quite sure what they meant by that but I am so amazed at what God is doing in this place with these 22 people He has ordained to be together for these next few months...we have Rwandans, Kenyans, Ugandans (Teso, Langi, Baganda, Atiso), Americans, British, and a MK from Costa Rica...wow...its amazing!

So I will start you off slow...well...maybe not slow...the last few weeks we have been chewing on the topic of worldview...and how our societies shape and mold our belief systems...

I will share more on this in another blog post BUT the one that hit me was the way that technology and media shape us.

Have you ever thought about that??? I know it is something I have thought about...The fact that I grab my PC or my phone to fill empty time rather than visit with a friend face-to-face or read the bible...

Did you know that the information culture that we live in is in overload mode?? Did you know that this technology that we have all bought into gives to us but also takes so much away from us??

Did you know that while it gives us an opportunity to access info that we would have otherwise never been able to access before, it also takes away our time and our relationships with others. That it has replaced the need for real living and breathing people and made us a people that just need Internet dates and Internet friends?

Did you know that it is scientifically proven that our brains actually retain less knowledge than they did in the past because we have the ability to "look it up later"...

WOW!

Did you know...and get this...that we can be SLAVES to our technology!? No...I didn't say that our technology is our slave, I said that we are its slave...

Don't believe me??

How often do you check your phone? Do you feel empty if it's not in your pocket? Can you go anywhere without it? Do you answer it every time it rings?

Still don't believe me??

What about the technology of heating water? Or the technology of electricity? Or a toilet? Or plumbing? What about the technology of a wheel? Of a car?

Not slave to it??

Are you sure?

Could you sell everything and move to Papua New Guinea or Uganda or any other developing country and live without plumbing? Without a hot shower? Without a car? Without electricity? Without a toilet to sit on?

Or are you enslaved to those technologies that make your life more "comfy"?

That hit me...wow! I have heard that so many times! I have heard some people say they won't even come visit a place like Uganda because they can't bring their blow-dryer or because they refuse to use a pit-latrine!

How many countries are closed to you when you are so enslaved to comfort technology that you can't visit them because they don't have X, Y or Z?

Think about it...who are you slave to?

It's a tough question...and one that I am not exempt from asking of myself everyday.

It's a road...one of transformation...and yes...it's hard to let God transform you, conform you, change you from the inside out...but think of how much sweeter life will be on the other side...

So yes...I am being transformed...and you...yes you...get to take the ride with me as I blog about those hard things I am learning.

Open your mind, enjoy...and be transformed!