Decluttering - Simplifying

When we built our old house (interesting now that we are now one month out of the Aurora house, it is an old house), I really was intrigued by the concept of home automation.  So I engaged a company to not only wire our house, but implement whole house audio, video, cable, phone, security, and HVAC.  Further, they were all integrated so that we could literally place a phone call, punch a code and bring our lights down and set the temperature.  The alarm system was also integrated into the fire alarm so that if the alarm went off, it would fire off a phone call to the fire department (too many fires in that sentence).  No way to stop it if it is a false alarm.  Our phone system was an actual business system and our house had extensions. 

However, such a system had complexities.  We found we hardly used any of the features.  As far as the alarm went, we were almost scared to use it.  Can you spell DOG?  At the time the system was built, it was state of the art.  Twelve years later when we sold it, it was an albatross.  Phones that did not work were hard to replace.  We quickly reverted to wireless as the technology became very affordable. 

When we moved, it was a real relief to go back to simple.  The less stuff to worry about, the better.  The baggage of the whole automation system was not only cluttering, it was over-complicating our lives.  It is amazing that stuff that was meant to simplify actually complicates.  Now, I am a tech guy and I love technology.  I am a tech. entrepreneur after all.  But gadgets also can complicate our lives. 

It is amazing that the Lord of the universe walked this earth in the 1st century.  I wonder if Jesus walked the earth in our century, would He be carrying an iPhone or laptop.   I don't think Jesus is anti-technology.  The God who fashioned the complexity of the universe and the wonder of the human body certainly would appreciate the wonder of using technology.  The advances of the printing press meant mass distribution Bibles.  The advances of linguistic software has been used to put biblical text in many more languages.  But technology can fall into the "stuff" category and serve to complicate our lives.  I sometimes think a complete tech stuff break would be real refreshing.