Mobile devices are an essential tool when it comes to church survival. I learned this from the 15 year-olds I taught in Sunday school a couple of years ago. Upon receiving the calling to teach, I was told that they were the class from hell and that they had chased away "a couple" of teachers over the past year.
I was pleasantly surprised, my first week, when the kids sat quietly and politely nodded at appropriate times during my lesson. After that first class, I remember thinking "Wow, I am an AWESOME teacher. I really hit it out of the park with those kids!".
Week 2 went much the same. . .Week 3 brought me down to earth. During my lesson, I made eye contact with one of the girls in the class and called on her to answer a question. She nodded politely. I asked the question again. . .another polite nod. The class became strangely quiet, and the kids looked awkwardly at the girl and each other. After a few moments of silence, I heard a faint t-t-t-TSSSS-t-t-t-t-TSSS. I took a closer look at the young girl and noticed little white wires, cleverly hidden under a sweater and behind hair, leading to her ears. i-Pod.
After killing the i-Pod craze in my class, the looks of boredom and sketchy behavior I was warned about quickly surfaced. They were a good class and I enjoyed the year I spent teaching them, but they certainly weren't the "angels" I had seen that first week.
Fast forward a year or so. . .My kids have inherited my "love" of long, boring Sunday meetings. To keep them in their seats and behaving in a semi-civil manner, I admit using a mobile device, once in awhile, to help break up the monotony. Annika and Sawyer "write letters" on the notepad of my CrackBerry, Sophie tries to dig the trackball out of the device, and I take unflattering pictures of Stockton and Lori during the service. Good times.
"If the pen is mightier than the sword, does that mean Shakespeare can kill Jedis?. . . .zzzzzzz. . .uh WHAT, HUH?"
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TWO high council speakers??"
