God's Facebook

Spaceship, ‘New Horizons’ has been on a nearly ten year journey to Pluto, the on again, off again planet at the farthest reaches of our solar system. Now described as a ‘dwarf planet’ Pluto is approximately 3 billion miles from earth and New Horizon has been traveling at a neck-breaking speed of 51,000 miles per hour. This past week it has been sending photos of Pluto back to earth with surprising images not expected by scientist of the project. What did they expect to see anyway? Seeing that from Pluto the sun is only the brightest star in the sky I should think frozen rocky mountains and smooth slick typography void of anything would have been their first guess. Personally, I see no value in the trip or the money being spent, but being the inquisitive people we are and always on the lookout for an opportunity to put our Creator in a box, I guess its worth the under funding of cancer research and the continued global suffering of the sick and dying for the simple lack of a pill or injection. Well, my query mind has plunged me deeper into the 21st century, and Facebook. I’ve been watching and evaluating electronic notebooks for some time deciding not to get one because I saw no need for it (I’m already computer poor) and I really didn’t want to spend the money some companies were asking. Well, the perfect fit came along at the right price, so much so, my wife and I each got one. What am I doing!? Now, my wife is not computer savvy at all, but she is learning without too much difficulty. I’ve only had to completely clear the notebook three times to start over again. It’s good she’s messing up because it shows she’s exploring, she just hasn’t figured out how to undo her little mishaps. She brought her book to me to fix the other night showing me her Facebook in Chinese and added, “That’s just one of the problems.” I sank in my chair, but got everything fixed by the end of the night. I’ve yet to see the worth of all this, but I’m in.

[Psalm 139] There is an old story of a census taker who was making his rounds in the lower East Side of New York City, who interviewed an Irish woman as she was bending over her washtub. “Lady, I am taking the census. What’s your name and how many children do you have?” She replied, “Well, let me see. My name is Mary; and there’s Marcia, and Duggie, and Amy, and Patrick, and…” “Never mind the names” he broke in, “just give me the numbers.” She straightened up, hand on her hip, and with a twinkle in her eye said, “I’ll have you know sir, we ain’t got into numberin’ them yet. We ain’t run out of names!” In a world filled with so many people we sometimes feel so insignificant. Nobody wants to know your name – just your SSN, proof of insurance and your phone number. It can be an impersonal world which leaves us feeling very lonely, even when we’re surrounded by a large group of people. We’re not the family driven society we once were. Families and friends can so easily become separated by a gulf of too many miles to visit and ‘catch up on things’. My family thought Skype was going to be the thing, but time zones keep visiting at bay. I’m willing to give Facebook a whirl with the pics and all, and a lot more people. But in the eyes of God, we are viewed personally. God knows each of us by name. We matter to him. God said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). God is not on Facebook, but His Book is all over the inter-web. Get to know Him; you’ll love Him.