I is for INTERNET

Don’t you just wonder what you did without it? How did we survive all these years? Remember when you actually had to go to a supermarket to buy groceries, stand in a queue at the bank to check your account, Trawl through brochure after brochure to try and find a suitable holiday then backpack your way to the Travel Agent to book it, always wondering just what cut they were getting out of it. Remember when TV was only on your television, when music played on a spinning disc, when only James Bond could see the person he was speaking to on the phone, when you had to wait for the teletext to be updated to get the latest news or sport. Remember when you used to write letters and then wait days for a reply, when communicating with a friend on the other side of the world was a novelty at Christmas or on a special occasion. Remember when you once paid cash to a person in a shop for a new item, when you spent hours browsing in a record shop or hunted through an encyclopedia for the information you needed, except that it was out of date by then. Remember when you got bills through the post, had three or four different Bible translations, read about your favourite football stars in magazines and checked your illness symptoms by going to see your doctor. Now we do most things by clicking a mouse – but surely there must be a trap somewhere.
Actually I found the trap over the weekend, hence the reason for the late blogs for a day or two. It all began with a big wind, a very stormy night. Nothing exceptional like a hurricane, you understand, but enough to spend the evening indoors. There were signs that all was not well, especially when the old internet connection kept disappearing and when we awoke to face a new day, we discovered by the stillness that the phone had died overnight and we were plunged into mourning that morning. Several mobile calls later during which I received four different solutions to my problem from the experts, none of which actually worked and soon we all realised that we were cut off from the world for the next two days. How were we going to survive? This screen, box and cable that been my lifeline for most of the last decade but for none of the previous forty years, during which time I had managed to cope with life and now that it was gone, albeit temporarily, I was floundering. Thankfully, the helpless felling had worn off long before breakfast and life actually went on as normal. There was time to talk, to practise the art of conversation, listen to CDs and the radio, watch TV on the little fourteen inch screen in the kitchen, go grocery shopping, browse the record stores and travel agent's and even read the Bible from a hard back translation. No, life wasn't so bad at all without the internet and maybe that's when I finally realised that, like any other wonderful invention, the tail must never wag the dog. And then I remembered that all my ancestors had not only survived without it but had enjoyed a quality of life that sitting in front of a computer never can bring, despite the convenience it offers.

And of course they still worshipped the same God that I know, the God of the King James Bible, the New International translation, the God of Adam, Noah, Moses and Abraham, of Peter, John and Paul, the God of the mission halls, the Billy Graham crusades, the God of the Bible translations I find on the internet and the God of the websites of twentieth century men of faith. The God who is not restricted by electricity, phone lines or storms, whose connection is always open no matter how many try to talk to Him at the same time. The God who is not reached by sitting in front of a screen or in a church pew or who is dependent on the nearest wifi connection. For He is the God who is with us every day, every place for ever. Why else would Jesus say 'I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' And that's why I end with mum's favourite verse from Joshua chapter 1. 'Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.' Imagine that! A constant connection right inside you. Time to log on?