A Positive From The Internet

Technology to me is a blessing and a curse. So much information at your fingertips, yet not enough people with discernment viewing it. The sky is not the limit anymore because in 5 seconds and a google search engine your imagination and curiosity can be appeased at the click of a button, both for good and for evil. History, geography, science, and math can all be explained through educational websites. In just the same manner however pornography, witchcraft, gluttony, and greed are like open sewers in the streets of cyber space that trap so many and so easily. This year I have learned to blog on the Internet as a great way to keep friends and family updated and also to meet new people from all over that share our passions. I have learned a great deal about several nations that have been devastated by natural disasters and have seen the good that the war in Iraq has brought to some of the people there. My friend Jennifer was doing a search on Myanmar after the cyclone of May and an ad to "buy Myanmar girls cheap" popped up on her screen. Children and woman are traded over the Internet like baseball cards and sold into a life of slavery in every kind of wickedness possible. Teens find sites that encourage suicide as an alternative to "this void existence", and married adults find websites for adultery to fill what is lacking in their own relationships. All this at the click of a button that is our world now. Could the U.S. and other nations thrive without the Internet now? Are we so addicted and embedded in it that we would fall if it was "disconnected"?

In the midst of all the muck there is a silver lining. I am sitting at work going through some emails and thought, "man my office is so quiet". I logged on to my favorite website and with a few clicks of a mouse I am listening to worship to our God that never stops. Sweet communing with Jesus through singing His words back to Him with the a tag of I love you at the end. It is the Prayer Room web stream and it is wonderful. It is Sunday and I will be watching Forerunner Christian Fellowship (IHOP's Congregation) in about 20 min. , all while charting and filling out lab requisitions. Now how on earth would that be possible any other way except through the Internet? It is refreshing and my spirit is lifted beyond the confined of my tiny office and I feel connected. It is a simple way to worship throughout the day, no matter what you are doing. You find your self humming to the music and repeating the choruses that are whispers of love to the One who is Love. The web stream is maintained by your $10 or $25 dollar donation every month. For that small price you get 24/7 worship and Word in your home, office, car, and wherever you are that Internet is available. It should be one of the 7 wonders of the world that intercession and worship is going out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week anywhere there is Internet access. I have heard of missionaries in Norther India who wake up at 4am to listen till 6am when they start their day. Closet watchers in Islamic nations who cannot hear the Word of God any other way, and the underground church in China that silently sings along with fellow brothers & sisters in worshipping the One who is worthy. Yes this is a bright light in the midst of a sea of darkness that we are so plugged into. A positive from a source of so much negativity. I am blessed and if you would like this positive feed in your home, office, or wherever you are go to http://www.ihop.org/ and click on the banner that says "24/7 Worship", you will glad that you did.