Staying Connected
Something unusual happened today. I found myself sitting at my desk, and decided to take an email break from what I was doing. Normally, I get emails from my dad in Michigan all the time. Most recent was the photos he took at the Chelsea, MI Tax Day Tea Party. But today, I found a Facebook friend request from him. Not that friend requests are an uncommon event for me, I've been a Facebook subscriber for over a year. I get them constantly. It was funny to see that my dad had found the Facebook site at all. He is still learning how to use his new laptop! Before that, computers to him were cutting edge with the old Apple IIGS, 25 years ago. (If you read this, dad, just having some fun. I'll send you lots of meaningless applications for your FB page, like Retro Arcade games. Nothing like the original Pac-Man!)
The request set me off on a FB spree. I found my uncle, my aunt, a couple cousins, and even my grandmother! If I thought I had a lot of friends on that site before, they are coming out of the woodwork now. I hear somewhere out there, my mom has a page, too. I'll search her out soon enough. I like Facebook because it really connects old friends and family like nothing else. Not even Myspace comes close to the impact FB is having in this area. And, most of my friends and family are far away, out of state. Now I have one more way to staying in touch with those that mean so much to me. And I can send them cool pictures of Starbucks coffee, too!
When you think about all the ways we have today to connect, it can boggle the mind. We have instant messaging, email, cell phones, Myspace, Twitter, blogs and Facebook. But, let me take this and give you a mini-sermon. While it's great to connect with the people in our lives, we need to remember that we have a Savior who wants to stay in contact with us, too. With all the voices and things (even, dare I say, Facebook!) in the world that clamor for our attention, it can be extremely easy for us to forget that. I haven't even mentioned the worries, the stressors, and the cares of life, either. It's like a tug-of-war match is going on, and we are the rope!
I'm reminded of a church the resurrected Lord Jesus scolded in Revelation 3:14-22. It was the Christian Church in a wealthy city called Laodicea, in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). These folks had money, they had security, they had expensive clothing. They lacked nothing material. But the Lord saw something that did lack. They didn't see that they had grown distant in their faith, and lost the passion that they once had for the Lord Jesus. They were blessed with wealth, and that wealth distracted them from the One who gives us "every good and perfect gift". Though they were rich in cash, they didn't realize that the Lord saw them as impoverished. Though they had designer threads, they lacked the righteous threads that only Jesus Christ could give them. They had let the tangible things they possessed rob them of their deep, spiritual fellowship with their Savior. Read what Jesus said to them:
"Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and with me." Rev. 3:19-20
Back then, people got together around the dinner table. Food played a big part in fellowship. What Jesus was saying to them was "Hey, guys, I miss your fellowship! But I never left you, you did. I'm outside the door of your heart, and I'm knocking loudly. I want that relationship back!" Friends, you hear Him "knocking", don't you? You can sense in your spirit that you aren't where you need to be with God. Do you feel something tugging on your heart strings, beckoning you back to the Savior who died for you? Don't pretend you can't hear Him, and don't turn the distractions up over the sound of the pounding. He desires to have that prime spot in your life. No, He desires to be your life!
