I admit it. I am a guy and therefore I like gadgets, buttons, switches—basically anything that beeps or buzzes. Well here I sit in a Phoenix hotel room recounting the events of last night. We flew in from Buffalo via Chicago. We arrived in Phoenix and were met by our dear friends that we have never met before. Rick was one of the first people to connect with my website way back when I started it in 1996 and we have gone back and forth in the bits and bytes of the internet ever since.
I pray for him every Sunday and I know he does the same for me. When my mom had cancer, he and his church, not only prayed for her, but sent her cards. She lives in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. They are in Brenda, Arizona, USA. My mother was so delighted to know that a church she had never been to, full of people she had never met, cared enough to pray for her and send her cards. Recently, they did the same for Sheila, my wife, when she had a health scare. Those cards and the prayers they represented were pure emotional gold to her. They were a hug from God. (When was the last time you actually sent a card, a REAL card, not some virtual wannabe card? A REAL card means even more NOW because a REAL card sent in the mail is a RARE thing these days! ) Anyway, Rick and Carol are getting married and they asked me to do the wedding, I prayed about it and here we are in Phoenix on our way to Brenda in a day or so. Well after they met us at the airport, Rick gave me the keys to his Caddy. The keys, he explained, just stay in your pocket. You don’t need them to open the car door or start the car—you just need to have them on your person. Walk up to the door and it unlocks, walk away and it locks. I thought to myself, “What kind of strange magic is this?” I start to feel a slight tinge of giddiness. As I got behind the wheel of the car and pressed the button to start the car, (yes you heard right, you just have to push a button!), the steering wheel automatically came down and adjusted itself. Giddiness was now well above giddy-up mode. We said our goodbyes to Rick and Carol and Sheila and I headed to the hotel. If we had just parked and both gone in to register, everything would have been OK, but Sheila, angel that she is, went in to register while I parked the car. What this meant was that I was left alone, in a car full of gadgets. Everywhere I looked there was something to press or pull. Initially everything was fine because I had a bunch of satellite radio stations to explore, but as I waited, I couldn’t help but think the rear-view mirror was way too dark and since there were several buttons on the mirror, including one that looked like a plus sign. I thought, ah, the plus sign must be the way to brighten the reflection in the mirror! I was so proud of myself. Who needs a manual? If I would have turned on the light, I would have noticed that the plus sign was actually a red cross sign, as in emergency, but alas, I did not turn on the light.It’s always a sad thing to hear about someone being murdered. If you don’t want to read about someone being murdered, then skip this edition of Pastor-Eye-zzed. Also, please understand that I am not making light of such a serious and sad situation by writing about it in this blog. It is just that there is one point of interest in this story that grabbed my attention.
It seems that two men in Cheltenham, U.K. have been charged with murder and robbery when they allegedly killed Keith Soons for his iPhone 4. Now, I doubt very much that it is really all that rare of an occurrence to be killed for something as trivial as a phone. I have heard of others being killed for their designer shoes and I am sure that there have been people killed for much less than an iPhone. But, what I found the most compelling, and perhaps the saddest part of this story, is the fact that Keith was stabbed as he tried to get his iPhone BACK from the thieves. So, let’s get this story straight. Keith was robbed by two knife-wielding thieves. They held him up and he handed over his iPhone. His iPhone was now in their possession. One would assume that the thieves had what they wanted and they were on their way when Keith decided that he just couldn’t part with his iPhone. It was in this struggle to regain his phone when Keith was killed. Somehow he decided that it was worth risking his life to recover his phone. I wonder what exactly it was that went through his mind that made him take such a risk. Was it his love for his iPhone? Was it his contact information? Did he have some amazing pictures or apps on his phone that he just couldn’t live without? Was he just about to get a high score in “Angry Birds”? Again, don’t misunderstand me. I am not making light of this terrible tragedy, I am just pointing out that regardless of the reasons that motivated him, they were far too silly and far too trivial to lose one’s life over.