Who You Talkin To?

Who You Talkin' To?

The technology of e-mail and personal Internet service was just coming around when I was in high school.  Slowly homes were adding services and one by one my friends opened e-mail accounts.  We were a little slow on the draw at our house.  Instead of the Internet, my dad decided to go with an e-mail service called "Juno."  Juno allowed us to have an e-mail interface on our computer that stored all our information locally.  When it was time to send or receive messages, the service would dial a number to Cheyenne, WY and exchange packages, staying connected about five minutes or less.  Essentially, we were never really connected to the Internet.  Things were sent to a server that then sent them to us.

How often are our prayer, scripture reading, and meditation practices similar to this strange e-mail communication method?  We get into the habit of thinking about God, praying about people, or reading words that are are about God, but we often forget God is not in some far-away location like Cheyenne, WY, looming only in the background history of words written a long time ago, or hovering weightlessly in heavens tucked away in an outer universe.  God is right there, right here.  There's no indirect dispatch, no mail drop, dial-up, or "sending up."  God built this "prayer and discipline Internet" to be more of an Internalnet and all-about-us-net.

The other morning while I was praying and reading, I realized I had fallen into the Juno-style prayer and scripture reading rut, packing prayers and thoughts about God's word into a flat parcel-post box to send God's way later.  So I paused, opened my eyes, looked out, looked up, took a deep breath, and refocused my attention to God's presence right there--in REAL TIME.  It was awesome.  I was connected.  My morning, my prayers, God's word all took on a new life.

While it may seem like a subtle shift, consider and try it.  Let God truly be right there--with you, watching you, filling you, responding to you.


More to come!


Jason <><