The question I ask myself daily is whether my smartphone has been my servant or a silent taskmaster. The truth is that our devices can serve us greatly in our walk with God, even in helping us rewire our brains in positive ways.

Neural science, which is the study of the brain, tells us that we have up to one billion brain cells with thousands of branches that communicate with each other much like a complex highway system. The more we attend to something, or the more we engage in certain behaviors, the more those particular cells communicate and the pathways between them deepen. This is how our values, our beliefs, and our motivations are actually formed.

We don't have to be victims of the spiritual fall-out of the digital age. It does take some serious intentionality to combat the cultural compulsion for connection that surrounds us, but it's worth it.

If we can't even spend a short amount of time each day with God in solitude, our spiritual formation will be seriously stunted.

The reality is that most of us are rarely, if ever, alone with our own minds and souls. Even when we do find a few minutes of quiet, we're driven to check our devices for emails, texts, etc.

Most people find it extremely difficult - if not impossible - to focus in prayer.

I'm dependent on technology like most 21st century human beings. More and more I need to be "connected" in order to communicate with family, teach seminary, minister to my community, and write as I'm called to do.