Of tweeps, squirrels, snakes and the word of God

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use 
of the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:15-16, ESV)

 Living in a university community, and riding my bicycle to work every day, I find that one of the commonest hazards I face as I ride along the sidewalks is the numerous people walking along mindlessly (or so it seems to me!) with their faces buried in their smartphones. I mean, they are just everywhere…! I call them tweeps. That must be what they are, right? Complete with earbuds stuck in their ears, and totally oblivious to the world around them, they just never see or hear me coming …

In fact, these tweeps are almost as ubiquitous as the hundreds of squirrels that come scurrying across my path every day. These little creatures are so foolhardy, they seem totally unaware of the dangers of an encounter with a speeding bicycle. Sometimes one will even stop mid-flight, dead in the centre of the sidewalk, to stare curiously at this heap of metal hurtling towards it at 15mph. Wham! (No, that is the sound of my head hitting the sidewalk, as I swerve madly to avoid hitting the dumb critter. Glad you asked. Duh!)

Then there was this one time I was riding along, minding my own business, when suddenly I came upon a Southern Black Racer (a long, slender black snake) sunning itself on the sidewalk right in my path. I jumped one way, and, startled, the snake jumped the other. What a sight we made as we scurried off in opposite directions! Not being one well versed with identifying snakes (or knowing which ones are venomous and which ones aren’t), I didn’t stick around to say hello … But later I learnt, through research, that large numbers of these snakes are killed each year as a result of road mortality and “persecution by humans”. Hmmm! Sorry, I never intended to persecute you by interrupting your mid-morning nap …!

But back to the tweeps. Want to hear some amazing statistics? It is reported that more than 100 million users worldwide log into Twitter on a daily basis, and that more than 5000 tweets are “tweeted” (that’s the verb, right?) every second. In fact, if you have a moderate number of tweeps that you are “following”, chances are that, by the time you finish reading this article, you will have at least 30 new tweets on your timeline to browse through …

You know what I call that? “Information Overload”. Little wonder that I almost run these poor guys down with my bike on a daily!

On a more serious note, however: What if we considered redeeming just a fraction of the time that we spend interacting on our social media networks, and invested it instead in looking up the word of God in the good, old fashioned, way? Yep, I’m talking about reading a book. I mean, sitting down and actually flipping the pages of a real book. I know … reading a book is “antiquated and so ‘retro’ …” or is it? Granted, there are loads of bible apps out there, but it’s not quite the same thing … Reminds me of the little boy who was unwilling to go to church one Sunday morning, instead pointing out to his Dad: “There’s an app for that!”

Like snakes, squirrels and tweeps to a cyclist, the journey through this life is fraught with hazards of all kinds. God knows we need all the wisdom and guidance we can get! Let us do what it takes to invest in spending quality time at His feet! God’s truths are timeless and precious. You can never put enough of a premium on them. Just like the psalmist said in Ps.84:10: “Better is one day spent in your courts than a thousand elsewhere!” So, too, is time spent in God’s word. Better a single verse from the Bible, than a thousand tweets from my presumed “followers”, I would say!

In fact, thank God for places like Maisha, where you can have times of quiet reflection and listen intently for God’s still small voice – and hopefully, the only “tweets” you will hear will be from the numerous birds chirping merrily in the trees…! (Note to self: Must remember to modify the Maisha entry rules. No tweeting allowed – unless you are a bird!)

In case you missed it, that was a brief commercial …

In closing, a picture comes to memory of a squirrel I once witnessed scuttling along the sidewalk at breakneck speed, with a tiny bird in hot pursuit. Apparently, the squirrel had just stolen an egg out of the little bird’s nest, but it had evidently bitten off more than it could chew – the little bird was not giving up without a fight! Would that we would arm and equip ourselves to stand up to the big bad world with the same resolve and tenacity, by filling ourselves to the brim with God’s word!

Over to you, tweeps …

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