Proverbs 31 Ministries | Blessed to be Broken

I love you more than my phone…

by Trish Cordell

I saw you today. But you didn’t see me. As you passed by me in your truck you couldn’t have seen me because you weren’t looking head and eyes up, you were staring head and eyes down. You don’t know me and clearly you don’t care about me or else your eyes would have been on the road, not in your lap. You must not care too much about you either but you sure do care about what’s on that phone.

We aren’t taught to drive with a phone in our hands. We’re taught do drive with 2 hands on the wheel. If you took your mobile phone to your driver’s test and tried to read your phone while testing to get your license, you would fail. Because texting and driving…is a fail. It’s also against the law in the state of NY. But you already know that and have made a conscious decision that you don’t care about the law, you don’t care about you, and you don’t care about me…you care about the phone. The phone is not a person. But you treat it like it is. The phone can’t hug you, kiss you, care for you; all it can do is distract you. It’s your master. It dings, you drop everything to see what it has to say.

I don’t care what you do with your phone when you’re not operating a piece of machinery. I care very much that you choose to use it when you’re driving. Your attention to your phone while you’re driving tells me 2 things right off the bat about you. You’re full of pride and you think you can totally text and drive and be in total control. This self-deluded thinking no doubt is from having done it multiple times and getting away with it. You’re also selfish. Yes, selfish. You care more for what’s on that phone than you do human life to include your own, otherwise you would be looking at the road, not your phone.

I wonder what it will take for you to put your phone down while you’re driving. Clearly it’s not the law, you break that every day. Clearly it’s not me. Clearly it’s not you. Clearly, if you have a family, it’s not them. So I’m guessing it would no doubt have to be a tragedy of some sort to get your attention. Maybe you’ll run over someone’s dog or cat. Maybe you’ll hit another vehicle and cause a multiple vehicle wreck. Maybe you’ll kill someone..maybe that someone killed will be you. Maybe when you’re in court listening to the family members of the person you killed sobbing, saying how much they miss their loved one, you’ll care. For now, I guess we’ll never know.

What you do with your phone is none of my business until you get in your car and decide that the life of me, my loved ones and countless others are nothing compared to what’s on your phone. I don’t know you, but I care about you more than I care about my phone…because in the end….it’s just a phone….it’s replaceable. YOU are not. So today, even though I don’t know you, I love you enough to not text and drive. Who do you love more than your phone? If you text and drive, the answer is clear…you choose your phone. You love your phone more than you love life. Period. I pray someday, sooner rather than later, you’ll do the same. Please don’t text and drive.

Please watch the PSA….and if you’re first thought is..”that would never happen to me,” you might want to consider, Proverbs 16:18~~”Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (NIV) You are not in control, you are not exempt from the consequences of your actions. Playing with fire gets you burned…don’t let texting and driving, get you or someone else dead.

Uncategorized

Maybe you didn’t know…

by Trish Cordell

I’m really excited about the Online Bible Study getting ready to begin on Jan 19^th. For the next 6 weeks we’ll be digging into the book “Made to Crave” by Lysa TerKeurst. The study is held over on the Proverbs 31 Ministries site and is hosted by Melissa Taylor.

Did you know food is not the only thing you crave? I mostly associate the word “crave” with food. But I’ve learned that our cravings are where our thoughts are. Let me give you an example.

Maybe you’ve heard of this woman called Princess Diana. She was pretty popular once upon a time. In my mind, I don’t think there’s a person on this planet who doesn’t know who she is. I say “is” because her legacy is very much alive. Let me tell you a little bit about “my” princess and how I “craved” her.

Before Diana became a princess, she was just an ordinary girl, who by her sheer misfortune captured the hearts and souls of people from every walk of life. I have to admit, I was caught up in the fairy tale that seemed her life. I needed (craved) to know where she was, how she was doing, what hairstyle she fashioned, what world-cause she campaigned, and any other tidbits of information that made her life intertwine with mine. Thanks to television and media publications, I was there with her on the very day she married, had children, got divorced, and the ill-fated day she slipped into an abyss from which she would never awaken. I can tell you exactly what I was doing when the news hit that she had been in a car accident. I was devastated over the loss of “my” princess.

You would think that it would have stopped there…the craving I had to know about her after she died. But it didn’t. It then became about the memorabilia that was being sold, the books, and any shows that would air her interviews. Eventually, it all died down and so did my craving for having to be all up “in her stuff.”

Do you see how easy it is to fall into a pattern of “craving?” At the time of my Diana craving, I didn’t know it was an unhealthy craving. I just followed along because I thought she had something that I didn’t and thought it was something I wanted. It was just so easy to swallow everything I was fed where she was concerned. Funny, all she wanted was to live her life and all life wanted to do was “eat her up.”

We were not made in God’s image and put on this earth to put these type cravings above Him. In fact, we’re instructed not to put anything above Him. I wonder what the world would look like if we actually craved for our Father more than any other “thing” in and of this world.

I’m so thrilled over this study and what it has to teach I just can’t keep it to myself. I would love to extend an invitation for you to join our Made to Crave study and find out what you’re craving and watch as God transforms not just my life but the over 35,000 women who have already signed up!! It’s super easy to sign up, just head on over here P31 Online Bible Study and click on the “sign up” tab and away you go!!

Please enjoy this musical snack!!