The Philadelphia iPhone Controversy

As I was on the final leg of my journey home this past Friday, I tuned my car radio to Philadelphia's KYW radio (1060 on the AM band) to catch some of the latest news. If you saw any news on TV, heard the news on the radio, or read the news in the local paper or USA Today, you could not help but hear about Apple's new techno toy, the Apple iPhone. It went on sale at 6 PM on Friday. Many people began lining up in the very early hours of Friday to be among the first purchasers of this new gadget. KYW was making a big deal about one such person who was none other than the Mayor of Philadelphia. That's right - Mayor John Street placed his chair on the sidewalk outside a Cingular Wireless store in Center City at 3:30 AM and began his 14+ hour wait. His actions has evoked a lot of public reaction. One Philadelphian asked the question, "Am I the only one bothered by our mayor waiting in line for something as trivial as an iPhone? I'm glad to know where my tax dollars are going." As it turns out, he is not the only one bothered by Mayor Street's actions. Scores of Philadelphians are letting the mayor know that they did NOT appreciate how he spent his Friday!

It is not my purpose in this blog posting to wade in on whether the mayor was right or wrong in what he did. But it does raise an important question for all of us - and that is our use of time. I would "guesstimate" that many of us waste a lot of it. We spend our time in the pursuit of trivial things. We forget how precious our time is, that time is a lot like money - once spent it is gone forever! This is why God makes such a big deal about time and our use of it. In Ephesians 5:16 we are urged to be "making the best use of our time, because the days are evil." How about YOU? Are you making the best use of your time? Are you using your time to get to know God better, to love Him more deeply, to serve him more fervently? One day we will all answer to God for the way we have used our LIMITED time here on earth. Let's strive to make the best use of our time NOW- so that we won't be embarrassed THEN!

Thanks for listening,

pj