Camera Shy

Today I was asked to read the Scripture passage before the sermon at church. So at the appropriate time, right before the services, I went to the "pastor's room" in the front of church, where others, who were having a part in the service, meet for prayer. I was told that I could sit up front on the podium or in the front pew and just come up from there to read it.

After seeing in the bulletin where the Scripture reading fit in, the last of all the preliminaries before the sermon, I chose to sit on the front pew. I remembered the videos that are taken of the services (Dean gets one every week to watch at home), and wasn't too keen on being in the spotlight up front for that long, being videotaped.

While I was sitting on that pew though, I started to think about my reluctance to be in front of the camera. I thought that I really shouldn't mind it. Aren't we all being recorded in the books of heaven, everything we say and do? That won't be just an audio recording. I'm sure it will include video footage of some kind as well.

If God is living in me, I should not be camera shy. "Let your light so shine before men, that they will see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16 Remembering that Jesus is the Light, I can humbly take my assigned place and let the cameras roll.

Forgetting to Remember

I have come to the conclusion that it is a waste of time getting DVDs for Dean at the library. I painstakingly chose some today that I thought he might not have seen. He is on the second go-round for one of them that I brought home. I told him when it started the second time that he had already seen all of it. He said, "Oh, well, I can't remember it."

That is just one change in Dean's dementia. There are other subtle things, but fortunately it is all very gradual. He used to notice if he had seen a video within the last year or so, then it was anything in the past week or day. Now he's watching them back to back!

Isn't this how we fall into sin though? Rather gradually? It can creep in without our knowing it, but not without our permission. What a careful watch we must have on our senses. Satan is looking for a way to cause us to forget God. That is one kind of dementia none of us can afford to have.