Po' Folks

 We had a visiting preacher at church this morning.  A Godly man who preached out of Luke.  He was relating a story about a recent mission trip to Guatemala, where he helped serve the downtrodden, poverty-stricken people of that country.  Spreading the Gospel of Christ along with meals and a cot for those who needed it.  Godly work.

Then he lost me.  He was telling about a big tent that the community used as a gathering place and he was in there one night and found an old guitar.  He picked it up and started strumming, singing a song that he knew, then noticed that the downtrodden had taken out their cell phones and were recording him.

What?  Cell phones?  That's where I draw the line.  IF you have a cell phone, you ain't poor.

The cell phone is the technological marvel of the late 20th and early 21st century. Cell phones cost money, and cell service costs money, and if a person has a cell phone, they hold in their hands the complete knowledge of the human species from the pharos until today.

Fifty years ago, no one could afford a smart phone.  At any price.  I remember resisting the impulse to buy a cell phone plan because it was too expensive.  And, I remember my first cell phone.

The people of Guatemala that the good pastor was helping may be a lot of things.  Like everyone else, they need the Gospel, and I'm sure that they need food and a helping hand.  But, if they have cell phones, they ain't po' folks.