The use of personal computers has made life less complicated for many. At the same time, they have created a new concern, what to do with our free time. This has even become evident for our nation's armed forces.

Many new naval officers are being issued Palm Pilot hand held computers. Aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Constellation, the tiny computers are having a large impact. Lieutenant Mike "Beemer" Biemiller, a landing officer, says his workload has been cut in half. Everything from tracking jet landings to recording inventory supplies is done efficiently on the hand held devices.

Many officers also report an added fringe benefit. Palm Pilots allow them to play games during their down time. They report their favorite game is "Battleship."

We ought to be grateful for technology that decreases our workload and frees more time. Let's also be careful to use our time wisely. Paul urged the Ephesians church to be very careful, how they lived, the wise person makes the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16.

Everybody’s busy, right? Yet we seem to find time to do the things that are really important to us. When New Hampshire Governor, Craig Benson was picked to serve on a jury in a child-sexual-assault case, he didn’t play them, “I’m a busy man card,” and try to get out of his civic duty. Instead, he agreed to serve. He said, “Everybody is busy and has stuff to do, but we should all take our time to do what we need to do to make the process work.”

1 Peter 4:10 NASB “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

With just a few keystrokes, savvy users can find the information they need on the Internet. For many it is a timesaver, but for some it is a time drain. According to some estimates, up to 10% of Internet users are addicted to it. According to Scotsman.com, "The Proctor Hospital in Illinois is admitting patients to recover from obsessive computer use and doctors said they see similar signs of withdrawal to those found in alcoholics or drug addicts—including profuse sweating, severe anxiety and paranoia."

—http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=609&id=2337202005 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

1 Corinthians 9:24 (RSV) "Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it."

The world's longest organ concert is currently being played out in an old church in eastern Germany. If all goes well, the music won't end for another 630 years! The music written by experimental composer John Cage, was originally intended as a 20 minute piece for piano. He transcribed it for organ and titled the piece, Organ2/ASLSP, standing for as slow as possible.

The concert began September 5, 2001 with an 18-month silence. The first chord sounded in February 2003, followed by two additional E notes in July 2004. The first chord just progressed to the second, which will held down by sandbags until 2012. The next change will take place May 6, 2006 when the two E notes will be released.

Since the concert began, thousands of people have flocked to the small church to listen to the music and see the new organ take shape. Organizers hope they can build the organ with the concert by raising money to fund new pipes in time for forthcoming notes.

The composer, John Cage died in 1992, but loved the idea of playing with time, and shocking his audience. The score has been divided into nine sections, each lasting 71 years. If all goes well, the half-time interval will take place in the year 2319, with the finale sounding in 2640. George Bandarau of the John Cage Organ Foundation says, "Here the question is whether the concert is over when the organist dies, or when the organ falls apart."

—http://timesonline.co.uk, Organ grinds on to 2640 in a concert sure to stand the test of time, January 8, 2006. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (TLB) "Everything is appropriate in its own time. But though God has planted eternity in the hearts of men, even so, many cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end."

Some days are more exciting than others. A computer programmer recently decided to use computer technology to locate the least exciting day in history. William Tunstall-Pedoe used a computer program called “True Knowledge” to analyze 300 million facts about people, places, business and events, placing them inside a complicated program to determine the most “objectively” boring day since the year 1900.

Tunstall-Pedoe found that using his standards, April 11, 1954 qualifies as the most boring day ever. On that Sunday the nation of Belgium held a general election, a soccer player named Jack Shuffebotham died, and a Turkish academic named Abdullah Atalar was born. Tunstall-Pedoe says, “Nobody significant died that day, no major events apparently occurred and although a typical day in the 20th century has many notable people being born, for some reason that day had only one who might make that claim.” Tunstall-Pedoe adds the date could still be redeemed because Atalar might still win a Nobel Prize, solve world hunger, or do something life altering. Until that happens April 11, 1954 will retain its dubious distinction.

--Computer Excitedly Declares April 11, 1954 Most Boring Day Ever, http://www.switched.com/2010/11/29/computer-declares-most-boring-day-william-turnstall-pedoe; November 29, 2010, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Any day can be a day that changes history. It all depends on how we use it.

Psalm 90:12 (CEV) Teach us to use wisely all the time we have.

In Long Beach, California, police arrested a man for taking a photograph of “no aesthetic value.” “Sander Wolff, who takes photos for a local newspaper, was detained after snapping shots of an oil refinery.”

What if authorities arrested everyone for engaging in activities of no value? Life could become quite confining. For example, the Nielsen Company reports that the average person in America watches TV 5 hours and 13 minutes a day. I suspect most of their TV viewing is of no value. The police could arrest the average American under the same law they used to arrest Sander Wolff.

--The Week, September 2, 2011 p. 6; 20 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

The apostle Paul reminds us that times are evil and as believers, we need to be making the most of the time, not wasting it.

A new book explores the unique topic of time. Time is the most precious resource humans have, but the way we perceive it changes based on many factors. Sometimes time flows quickly, and sometime it creeps by at an unbelievably slow pace. Author and broadcaster Claudia Hammonds has written a book entitled, “Time warped.” She explained her observations at a conference in England in 2012. Hammonds says most people are good at measuring the passage of time. We tend to be accurate when asked to measure the length of an hour, minute or second. Experiments have shown that emotions and other factors due impact the perceived passage of time. When a person feels popular, time spent on a task seems to pass more quickly than time spent working on a task when a person feels isolated and alone.

Hammonds says the warping effect becomes more evident when we look at the past and future. Time spent while ill seems to pass slowly, but when looking back on that time, it seems to have passed quickly. The same is true for an exciting event which seems to pass quickly, but when looking back on it, the memories of the event seem to occupy a lot of time.

Hammonds also says the future is almost a default of the human mind. We tend to think about the future when we don’t have a lot of other things to do. She says the future seems to be have plenty of time for everything. If a busy person can’t open a ten minute slot for an appointment today, they usually can open an hour in the future, because that time appears to be more available.

Hammond says people have different ways of viewing time. Some people picture themselves moving into time, while others see time as moving toward them. Overall, Hammond says time is the most common noun in the English language, but it is not as straightforward as we like to think.

--Odd ways the Mind Warps Time, http://news.yahoo.com/odd-ways-mind-warps-time-215118575.html; May 3, 2012, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Eccesiastes 3:10-11 (GNB) I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us. He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does.

A new survey indicates a growing number of people are less attracted to social media sites such as Facebook. The poll conducted by Reuters and the Ipsos research firm found roughly a third of social media users are not excited about the experience, and the sentiment seems to be growing. The survey found that users aged 18 to 34 were the most active, while 29 per cent of users over the age of 55 called themselves regular users. Though the research was designed to look at ways for social media to capitalize on current user habits, the results found that a majority of users had never purchased a product they saw advertised on the site. After reviewing the results, researchers said they think people who use social media a great deal soon reach a point they call, “Facebook fatigue.” This response leads them to spend less time checking in with friends and browsing profiles and turn their attention elsewhere.

--Survey: 1 in 3 Facebook users getting bored with the social network, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/survey-1-3-facebook-users-getting-bored-social-050740241.html June 7, 2012, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Ephesians 5:15–17 (HCSB) “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

In an attempt to make their neighborhood a safer place to live, Bradley and Penny Mason purchased a vacant house adjacent to their home because they feared it was a fire hazard. As it turns out, they were right. As they were at the county courthouse signing the deed, the house caught fire. A neighbor noticed the blaze and reported it to 911, who dispatched the fire department to extinguish the blaze. –Jim L. Wilson

--http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/couples-new-home-burns-to-ground-as-deed-is-signed_55df4dc5e4b029b3f1b1ef66?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

James 4:14 (NASB) (14) “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

Time

Nine out of ten younger millennials, aged 18 to 24, check their phones at least once an hour, if not “constantly.” The Bank of America mobile trend report says the same group is more likely than any other age group to sleep with their phones next to them in bed. The report found an interesting contradiction however. It found that though most of these people can’t seem to get through a bus ride, church service, or bathroom break without using their phones, more than half of them said they would be happier if they used their phones less. They also said they think technology has brought them closer to friends and relatives who live far away. Even so, fewer than half think new technology will allow them to maintain deeper relationships in the future.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

1 Corinthians 10:23 (HCSB) “’Everything is permissible,’ but not everything is helpful. ‘Everything is permissible,’ but not everything builds up.”

“As a personal commodity, money is extremely elastic, in that you can theoretically accumulate an infinite amount of it, and your income fluctuates at different points in your life. Time, by contrast, is intrinsically inelastic: You cannot accumulate more of it, and you’ve never had any less of it. You get the same amount of minutes and hours in every day of your life.”

Professor Laurie Santos makes that point in the class on how to be happier that she teaches at Yale University. Her research has shown that people who concentrate on time are much happier than people who concentrate on money. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

Pay careful attention, then, to how you live—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

Adam Sternbergh, How to be happier, The Week, August 17/24, p. 36-37 (Excerpted from an article that originally appeared in New York magazine.)

Writing to business executives, Peter Drucker says, “. . . one cannot rent, hire, buy, or otherwise obtain more time. The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. . . . Moreover, time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Yesterday’s time is gone forever and will never come back. . . . Time is totally irreplaceable . . . there is no substitute for time. . . . Everything requires time. It is the one truly universal condition. . . . Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.” —Jim L. Wilson

Writing to business executives, Peter Drucker says, “. . . only constant efforts at managing time can prevent drifting [into wasting time]. Systematic time management is therefore the next step. One has to find the nonproductive, time-wasting activities and get rid of them if one possibly can” —Jim L. Wilson

Pope Francis called on the world’s Catholics to make better use of their time. His challenge to the faithful was to “give up insulting people on social media for Lent and pray instead of wasting time with ‘useless words, gossip, rumors, tittle-tattle.’”

The rest of us could use that advice as well. It would be a much better use of our time, not just during lent, but year around. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell