Before the digital age, there was fotomat. The customer pulled up to the small booth, handed over the film to be developed, and could return to pick it up…in about two weeks. Then one hour processing came along, and put Fotomat out of business.

Fifty years ago, we were accustomed to waiting on things. Even the advent of the microwave oven didn’t speed things up so much.

Charlie Brown cartoons were only available to be viewed once per year. There was no 24 hour cartoon channel, or “on demand.”

There were these things called “letters.” People would write words on a piece of paper, put them in an envelope, and mail them. 2-3 days later, the addressee would receive the news.

Long distance phone calls were for the rich. Of course, no one had a mobile phone, except for TV spies who had a “car phone.”

Fifty years ago, we had to wait.

This may sound like a complaint, but its not. After all, this is a digital blog! Someone has said that the digital world is the biggest thing since Guttenberg’s press. I agree. It is BIG, and it will only get bigger.

I believe what the Bible reads. In Revelation, the story is recounted how that two witnesses will be slain in the street, and the whole world will see it – and send gifts to one another. In a previous generation, this would be nearly impossible; but now, we see headlines in action. We can do many things immediately.

What we cannot do, no matter how hard we try, and advanced our technology gets, is hurry God along. One of the unfortunate consequences of immediate access, is that we can attempt to hurry God along; “on demand” “one hour or less” “same day shipping.”

The disciples were overwhelmed with grief when Jesus went into the garden to pray. They were sleeping – overwhelmed – with sorrow. Jesus took time to pray.

Read that aloud. Jesus took time to pray.

This was not an unusual practice for Jesus, nor was it a fire-alarm response. Jesus always took time to pray. Jesus took time to pray when He was experiencing wonderful ministry campaigns. Jesus took time to pray when He found out that His cousin was murdered. Jesus took time to pray at earlier hours and late at night.

Prayer is the language of heaven. In this season (lent) and every season, let’s “approach the throne room of grace to find help in the time of need.” Let’s not hurry. Let us pray.