Don’t Get Diverted

This is what Scripture says about being busy. ‘While I was busy doing something else, the prisoner disappeared!’ In this story, God judges someone for forgetting what’s important and taking their eye off the ball. In 1992, Fortune magazine featured ‘The biggest business goofs of 1991’. In an act of corporate cooperation, telecommunications giant AT&T reached an agreement with the power company in New York City. The contract stated that whenever power demands exceeded a certain peak, AT&T would switch an internal switch which would, unplug some of its facilities, begin taking power from internal generators and so decrease the demand on the electricity supplier. On 17 September 1991, AT&T did just that—they switched the switch. But when AT&T’s own generators kicked in, they created a power surge that knocked out vital systems which handled 4.5 million national calls, 470,000 international calls, 1174 flights across the USA carrying 85,000 passengers and the total communications systems linking air traffic controllers at 3 major airports. It was a giant mess! The alarm bells at AT&T’s offices rang unheeded for six hours. Why? Because the AT&T personnel in charge of the system were away—attending a one-day seminar on how to handle emergencies! The Bible says, ‘Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.’ (1 Peter 5:8 NLT) If Satan can’t ‘devour’ you with a frontal assault, he’ll settle for diverting you with things that ultimately don’t matter. So, don’t get diverted.