The Bible on Trial

Pay Attention~

One of my dad's favorite expressions was, "Don't keep your head in the sand."  When I was a boy I didin't really understand what he was saying; I mean, how do you stick your head in sand when you aren't at the beach? Why would you want to stick your head in the sand anyway? We had gone to the beach at Santa Barbara many times, and each of us four siblings had been buried up to our necks at least once. I found it to be very uncomfortable, and didn't like it a bit. 

As I grew older I finally figured out that dad was speaking a metaphor, a life lesson hiddien in a single phrase. I now understand that there are two parts to this mataphor, one literal, and one spiritual.

In my youth my dad would never have considered that there would be a physical component to this phrase based upon something called a cel phone. We have all seen people walking down the sidewalk looking down at their cel phones and nearly (or actually) run into something and hurt themselves.  People today are so attached to their cel phones that they can't look up from them to even acknowledge a comment from a friend, or the needs of their child. There is also a significant danger factor in this as well, and not just in being hurt by tripping and falling.  For many people they are so intent on their phones that they lose all 'situaltional awareness', and are actually being attacked by muggers that they neer saw coming. 

The other meaning of my dad's saying is spiritual. We NEED to stay aware of our spiritual surroundings as well, otherwise we WILL become unavailable for learning the truth when it presents itself. We need to (as my dad also put it)  "keep our heads on a swivel", constantly watching for opportunities to find truth, so we will not "be deceived" (Matt. 24:4). If we watch and stay awake we will find Truth that will set us free.