A Sure Thing

Sometime ago, we decided that it would be helpful if I had a cell phone. I don't know what we were thinking, but it made sense at the time. We are adding a phone to Lynn's existing service, and Alltel at the time had a pretty good deal on a PDA smartphone with email and web capabilities. I like gadgets, and I do use a PDA, and carrying one device rather than two was appealing. And the messaging on this smartphone was provided by on the the best known names in the business-- Blackberry. How could I go wrong?

Fortunately, my natural inclination to put off financial decisions as long as possible allowed the "deal" to expire before I made the purchase. Blackberry's maker Research in Motion was sued for copyright infringement, and the Blackberry service as of this morning is in real danger of being shut down. It seems they "borrowed" some technology owned by another company, and that technology is at the center of their service. So once trendy Blackberry users may later this week be the owners of message devices that can't sent or receive messages!

You can't count on anything in this world to last. The only thing certain in life is its uncertainty. (Hey, this was the year that my Colts were certain to make the Super Bowl! Right!) There are no sure things in this world. We may think that we can count on our job, on other people, on our investments or on our health-- but they all let us down eventually. But God never does. The Hebrew writer contrasts trusting in money and trusting in God (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Maybe the only thing more useless by the end of the week than owning a Blackberry will be owning stock in Blackberry! We can't count on anything... except God.