The Age of One Click Global Communication

I sit here in my favorite place in Antigua, the little El Refugio coffee shop.  I have finished my cup of exquisite coffee, I have finished my Bible study for the day, and I know I must write.  I have not written anything in months.  I am not sure what happened.  I have been busy, but there has also been plenty of opportunity to share.  But I don’t know how to sit down and put into words everything that has happened.  The more time passes, the harder it becomes.  There is plenty to communicate, but putting it all into letters, words, and sentences that can properly express it to others seems like an impossible task.

The technology we have nowadays allows us to communicate in miraculous ways.  Sometimes I pine for the days of couriers on horseback delivering messages from faraway lands.  Why was I not born in that time I wonder?  Times seemed simpler then and I romanticize the past.  In so doing I ignore the opportunities there is at hand to truly impact the world with one click.

With one click, everything I have written will be available to be accessed by the entire world.  Sometimes I forget the monumental potential that the right messages at the right time can have on people who stumble across something I have written.  However at the same time this amazing technology can backfire.  There is so much information on the Internet.  I could spend the rest of my life staring at a computer screen taking in information and contributing absolutely nothing to our local or global society.  How am I using this age of one click global communication?  Am I using it to glorify God, to love others, and to leave an impact on our world?  Or am I distracting myself with it, leaving no time for the greater purposes God has called us toward?  I hate to admit that for me it feels at times more like a distraction.

I get lost in the land of infinite information (or misinformation).  One link leads to another link which leads to another link.  If I’m not careful an hour or two can pass.  I find myself taking in endless amounts of information and opinions without contributing anything.

I want to stop wasting time.  I want to take advantage of the tremendous opportunity technology allows without being distracted with it.  For believers in Jesus, our relationship with Him and the love that flows from that must be the center of everything we do, and that includes the time we spend online.  Are we using that miraculous opportunity to love others and bring God the glory, or do we find ourselves addicted and in over our heads?