Recently I was looking at some old photos of a trip I made to Kenya back in 2007.  I had the great privilege to speak to a women’s group in Nairobi and then travelled up into the hills in western Kenya to a place called Mount Elgon. The group that invited me was building a seminary up there for Kenyan young men, but they wanted their wives to have some training as well.

We drove for hours and finally bumped into a wide spot on the road displaying a half-finished building site. It had a few bedrooms ready, and a classroom prepared for students. We were scheduled to begin our first session at 9 am. I stood outside the room for a very long time, wondering why the women were not showing up on time. An hour or so later they began to appear over the hills.  They were carrying children, clothes and enough food for their three-day visit. They had been walking for hours.

Deeply humbled by their desire to learn from the Word of God, I have often thought about those amazing women and their world view. What affects their understanding of how the world works? Do they know who runs which country, which system of government produces what? Do they know or care about gross national products or tariffs or things like a balance of power? Do they know about the conflicts all around the world and what people are fighting over?

You and I live at the other end of that continuum. We know it all. Or at least we think we do. We are consumed with that news feed that our phone delivers us every hour (actually more like every 8 minutes or so.)

And therein lies our problem. We (I will speak for me and guess you are similar) are allowing those little computers in our pockets to set the tone for our lives. (Apparently 90% of us view our phone before we do anything else in the morning.) In a very real way, every single morning they set our emotional equilibrium and our view of the world.

We need some self-imposed, spiritual guardrails.

So, this week, I am suggesting you join me in MAKING HIM FIRST. Don’t pick up your phone until after you have had your quiet time with the Lord. Let’s begin our days by allowing prayer to set our emotional equilibrium. Talk to the Lord, listen for His response. Let’s sit in silence as we stabilize our thoughts for the day.

And then, let’s allow scripture to dictate our view of the world. Let’s make sure His truth (not the talking heads on TV or the invisible heads on our podcasts) rule our world, impact our thinking, and adjust our perspectives.

Those gals in the Kenyan hills really know how to live. They make HIM FIRST. Tomorrow morning let’s throw our phones in a drawer and join them!