Enter his gates with praise and thanksgiving and cell phone...  

I attended a beautiful Christmas concert last night. I'm sure months of preparation were put into it with the sole purpose of offering a night of worship to our great God. We have an amazingly gifted technical staff and I'm still marveling at the special effects: lighting, snow and was that evergreen fragrance I smelled at the end of the night? 

Sadly though, we had a lot of adults who offered their own effects, cell phone lighting.

 A group of us moved early in the service because of the distraction, but I finally threw in the towel and used my program as a blinder.  The man next to me texted nonstop, the people in front of me edited photos throughout the entire night. 

Okay, you get my rant. It just made me wonder why they bothered to come. Why not wait for Vimeo?

Oh, I know it happens all the time (Sundays in the balcony,) but the dark sanctuary just brought it to light.

Yes, our phones are smart, but are we? Are we wise enough to turn them off and tune into God? Oh, I'm all for using technology. Nothing makes my heart happier than to see a student following along on their phone during the sermon or Scripture reading; I've even seen a few take notes on their tablets. Yes, I even love the occasional photo or video on social media. Who can resist capturing beauty? I'm talking about the continuous distraction. 

Last night the light from cell phones kept me from worshiping with full attention.  I missed out, but sadly, so did the users.  I don't want to miss God; I want to enter his gates to worship.

Smart phone or smart heart?