This really is an amazing

time to be alive. I guess it is common to hear gripes and

complaints wherever we go about the state we are in...

but, recently, through everyday common experiences, I was

reminded that these are great and exciting days.

Some months ago, I visited

a lady who had fallen and was taken to the emergency

room. As we were talking and praying together, I suddenly

remembered that I had promised to give my wife a

telephone call at a certain time. I excused myself, went

to the parking lot, grabbed my cell phone and placed a

call to my wife - in Uganda!

We talked a few moments

before she had to rush off to attend a church service in

a remote village in that East African nation. She

promised that she would have the African congregation

pray for the woman in the hospital in Fayetteville, Ga. I

put the phone up, went back into the hospital, and

announced to my friend that a congregation in Africa was

now praying with us for her full recovery. Amazing.

A few months later, a woman

in our church was to undergo surgery. I always try to

visit the hospital and pray with church members prior to

surgery. This time it was impossible for me to get to the

north side of Atlanta, so I gave her a call and we

prayed. As I hung up the phone in Nairobi, Kenya, I

marveled at the ability to conduct long-distance ministry

from literally any location on the planet. Simply

amazing.

When I was in high school,

producing a youth newsletter for the church was a real

pain. One had to insert a wax master into a typewriter,

being careful not to make mistakes, create artwork with a

steel stylus, drawing directly on the wax master, and

then the whole thing had to be fixed to a machine.

One would crank the machine

through the cuts in the wax onto the paper and produce an

image. It smelled bad, ink leaks were common, and a good

copy was as much a matter of luck as of skill. Producing

a good quality leaflet was expensive and time consuming

and a job for a professional print shop.

Now, with computers, a

novice can produce materials (even in full color) that

were high-dollar jobs a few years ago. And the whole

thing can be done for pennies a copy.

that is far smoother and

safer than riding in the car. Somewhere high over

Mississippi, I ate a delicious steak with salad, veggies,

bread and desert. In just over two hours, I was back in

Atlanta.

A journey like that would

have taken months and months just a few generations ago.

Their company on the trip would have been wild beasts,

the furious elements, and hostile, aggressive forces

instead of the pleasant, smiling employees of Delta. I

bet they never even dreamed of eating steak six miles

high in the sky. Still, I find it amazing.

It wasn't all that long ago

that people cooked on hot stoves for hours instead of in

microwave ovens in minutes. Televisions, when you could

get them, were black and white and had three stations at

best. People went to movies (which had only one screen

instead of 24) as much for the novelty of air

conditioning as much as for the entertainment. Neither

homes, nor churches (remember the hand-held fans?), nor

automobiles were air conditioned, something we

Southerners should never forget.

Nearly everyone ate at home

since few eating establishments were available and

telephone calls were never private thanks to the

"party line." No one had ever heard of soccer

or gymnastics and golf and tennis were for the wealthy

only. Most families had only one car, if they had one at

all, and, thanks to bad roads, long trips were 10 miles

or more.

Only a few years ago, black

Americans had to sit in the balcony at the movies, occupy

the back seat on the bus, and drink from separate water

fountains. A few years ago, most cancer patients died,

most premature babies did not survive, and people in

general died a whole lot younger than they do now.

So, I have determined to

drink it all in and quit griping so much. We are blessed

to be alive during these exciting days with so much

happening around us. Carly Simon once sang, "These

are the good old days." These "good old

days" are getting better and better with each

passing year. I find that truly amazing!

[Father

David Epps is rector of Christ the King Charismatic

Episcopal Church. He may be contacted at P.O. Box 2192,

Peachtree City, GA 30269, or online at [email protected] .

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