Distractions

I've been to Cuba a few times. Once I was there to speak at a church in Havana, and to deliver a few suitcases worth of Bibles to them as well.

After I finished my final teaching at the church in Havana, the pastor thanked me profusely for all of the Bibles that had been delivered. The church did not have any more Bibles - not even one! - to distribute to new believers, and finding Bibles in Cuba, as you might imagine, can be a real challenge.

The pastor told me how his church had been blessed by the donation of the Bibles, but I told him that I had been even more blessed by the unforgettable time of fellowship and fraternity that I had shared with him and his precious church. It was awesome for me to see how the gospel of Christ was aflame in Cuba, in spite of decades of persecution and suffering and extreme poverty.

"Do you know what the difference is between Christians in your country and Christians in my country?" the Cuban pastor asked me.

"What is it?" I responded.

"In Cuba, we do not have the distractions that you have in your country," he continued.

Boy, was he ever on target with that one!

Distractions.

I understood exactly what he meant. Distractions. Things that turn our focus away from God. It could be the new iPhone, or a Blackberry, or checking e-mails every two minutes, or text messaging, or a Facebook account, or a MySpace account, or voting for the next American Idol.

They don't have any of that in Cuba. Because Cubans have so little around them, their focus is mainly upward.

I've seen the same thing in Peru. I've seen foreign mission groups come here and become so focused on replicating their creature comforts and conveniences from back home that they totally lose their effectiveness. I've seen foreign missionaries and pastors go absolutely apoplectic in Lima (and even worse in the jungle) if they can't get their iPhone or Blackberry to work properly.

Listen, we have been able to leverage modern technology to bring more people to the feet of Jesus Christ, but it's important to remember that we need to have dominion over technology, and not vice versa.

Be careful not to get distracted by your desires for comfort, convenience, and technology, particularly if you are going from the first world to the third world. It's easy to get ensnared in that trap. God has your back and He'll meet your needs, whatever they may be and wherever they may be. Don't let the enemy use distractions to throw you off of your A-game!