Tech Talk - GPS Living

There is no doubt in my mind, that these gadgets affixed to the windshield of just about every car, are being put to use in creative and helpful ways. I have heard many accounts of how these postcard size touch-screens can navigate you to most obscure landmark. Perhaps it is my "good fortune" or my own stubborn Independence that has made my experiences with them a less than fruitful experience. This past week I had opportunity to experience the many blessings of a GPS navigation unit. It did it's job of helping us arrive at places we wanted to go. Unfortunately, in the mean time, where it took us was sometimes questionable. I discovered that there is now something called "phantom restaurants." These are ones that only exist in either TomTom or Garmin's mind. We had three vehicles travelling together, with three different GPS units, all giving slightly different information. Add to that a couple of cell phones in each vehicle and you can imagine the texting and calling rampage that accompanied the trip. As it came my turn to play with the machine (no I wasn't driving and playing with the GPS) I saw that what it did flawlessly was to indicated exactly where you had been, how long you had taken to get there, how much time you had spent stopped, and how fast you had travelled while on route.

I've had a few days to reflect on this and I must say that I see some parallels that can be drawn between these gadgets and life.

• One of the dangers of relying completely on a GPS unit is that you lose the need to know where you are in perspective to geography. You simply trust that the GPS will guide you through every situation. There is no need to see the big picture, all you need to know is that you are on the map and that you will be making a left hand turn in 22kms. I know too many people like this as well, who fail to consider the big picture in life, trusting that their own navigation system knows the way. This is a simple way to live and for some they might even spiritualize their ignorance by saying that all they need is to trust God to guide them. This simplicity is comfortable, yet my challenge is to know the mystery of God. To contemplate the complexity of all that is there and in so doing better understand where we fall in the entire creation. If we fail to consider the immensity of life and the complexity of our existence than we actually end up elevating ourselves due to our ignorance of the whole.
• There is a tendency to fixate on the immediate action rather than the long term goal. The kind voice within the postcard size box tells you only what you need to know for the next action. All you worry about is the next thing you are going to do. This is similar to the previous point with a slight distinction. The last point focused on the need to know the big picture, this is looking more at the need to have a plan. All the GPS unit needs is the address of the location you want to go and it will guide you there. You do not need to know the way - trust it. In fact Garmin's slogan is "follow the leader." In a day and age when being a leader is so important I'm surprised by a product that makes lemmings out of a vast majority of the population. Whatever happened to planning your route and knowing the directions. You don't need to know navigational directions or even the names and numbers of the places you are going you just follow the next step. That same mindset can be found in our spiritual lives. People will follow just about anybody who simply says trust me to be your navigator. The danger isn't in following a leader - we actually need to learn the value of surrendering ourselves to the governence of others, however we can't follow in ignorance.

If you own a GPS unit for your vehicle, please don't take this as a put down. In fact I might even ask you to lend it to me at some point. What I'm wanting to communicate is some of the puzzling thoughts I had about how this bit of technology reflects an age that is not thinking for themselves. I fear that we are not thinking for ourselves and as a result creating a culture of blind trust. At the fundamental level, the value of education lies in the ability to think analytically about ideas. It is far less important to be qualified for a job, than it is to be qualified for life. When education is reduced to a means to an end, we lose the power that education has to change life.