So last week I shared…
About why I returned my iPhone.
But I felt that a follow-up-post was needed.
Because there are many reasons I’m thankful for media and technology…
(and even smartphones.)
So here are 7 reasons I like technology, from someone-who-doesn’t-really-like-technology-all-that-much…
1. Because it helps me connect with people I love.
Just a few days ago, I received a Facebook friend request from one of my students.
I haven’t taught high school I.B. English for years (can you tell?) but I’ve wondered about this particular student and it was so fun to receive her message.
And our three year old knows how to Skype with her grandparents. Their faces are familiar to her, even when the distance is too far for weekly interaction.
Last year, I knew almost right away when my close friend from high school lost her dad and my heart ached with her.
One of my closest friends is moving to Hawaii next week. Our family is grieving the change in a friendship grown over the last decade. Our blogs and Facebook and texting and cell phones will be the strands that keep us tied closely.
And I can actually listen to my cousin’s little boy singing Johnny Cash on youtube.
Plus, it no longer takes six weeks to get a message to my friend who is a missionary in Niger.
And if my husband has to work late, he can often bring his work home, have dinner with us, read to our children, and finish up after they are in bed.
2. Because it is helpful.
My dad is a family doctor and we’ve emailed him images of strange-bug-bites-on-children to see if a trip to the ER is necessary.
And I don’t know how people ever created tri-fold-5th-grade-display-boards about Indonesia before the internet.
When I can’t remember a Bible verse, or quote, or book, or song, or movie or figure out how to get ink out of carpet… I can look it up.
And I’ll admit that I just like Siri.
I do.
She makes me laugh with all her witty answers to questions that we think will trip her up.
And last week she helped a friend and I not-get-as-lost in Colorado.
And on Friday I wanted a recipe for homemade crockpot chicken soup–
And it was wonderful.
3. Because God has used it all to grow real friendships.
And I’m not talking about the fifteen-bazillion-face-book-friends kind.
These are real, deep friendships where lives have intertwined and I pray for them and they pray for me and we’ve had coffee together because He’s allowed us some shoulder-to-shoulder time.
Where I know we may be separated by miles, but we’ll have eternity together–
Sweet kindreds like Ruth and Kelly and Rachel and Joy and Sarah and Mandy and Christy and Jennifer and and a rare handful of others I write with at The Better Mom and Mosaics.
Women who are more than just “online acquaintances”.
And because those daily texts from close friends here…
Remind me that someone loves me enough to ask if I-still-need-toothpaste-from-Costco because they want to save me a trip.
4. Because it gives me access to resources that have helped me grow spiritually.
Like last month when I was home from church with a sick kiddo and we could pile onto pillows and listen to our pastor’s sermon in real time.
Or the dozens of podcasts from Matt Chandler and John Piper and Tim Keller that have impacted us greatly.
Or the posts from Ann that pull my heart toward a life of giving-thanks.
5. Because it is a great way for sharing needs and joys and prayer requests.
Like when my friend Elizabeth shares on Facebook that a new family has moved to town and they need a crib for their baby.
And when the email comes through that my nephew’s new baby is in the NICU, struggling to breathe.
Or when I get a text from a friend’s that says her daughter is giving a talk to high school students about how a baby-is-a-baby-even-in-the-womb, at this very moment, and I can stop and pray.
Or when Naghmeh Abedini can go on Facebook to ask for help and prayer because her American husband who is a pastor was sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran yesterday.
6. Because it is possible to use my reach (my social-platform-blog-twitter-facebook-linkedin-texta-stublming-insta-EVERYTHING) for His glory.
Like when a couple is considering adoption and they want to know about our stories.
Or when I meet a woman at our daughter’s preschool and her friend’s child has just died and she wants to know ways to weep-with-those-who-weep.
Or when a mama needs ideas for talking to her child about Heaven.
Or when a friend discovers that her son may be dyslexic.
There’s an opportunity for sharing (and pointing hearts to Him) that might not exist otherwise.
7. Because media, technology, (and even smartphones) keep us in the tension.
It might be easier to just do away with it all, but instead we have to listen for God’s whisper that we may be out-of-balance or over-balanced or missing–
Balance.
Where it might be simpler if He just gave us Commandment #11–
Do not use Facebook.
But–instead He gives us a relationship where we must come to Him regularly, willing to lay it all,
All the techno-everything-options at His disposal.
Maybe to be used by Him.
Maybe to literally be–
Disposed of.
My husband has been looking for a new-used-car for work.
Our current cars are, well…
Pretty old.
And mine is full of muddy footprints, smashed cranberries, forgotten dioramas, and swim goggles.
We took a test drive yesterday.
Where have the days gone of a simple wheel, pedal, key, switch for the lights and a blinker?
Instead there are sensors to warm my seat, a welcome greeting, bluetooth streaming, and I’m pretty sure I was actually in the cockpit of an airplane, ready for flight.
The salesman synced my husband’s smartphone and then–
Made a few wisecracks about my ancient relic of a phone.
I told him why I returned my iPhone.
And I’m still happy about that decision–
For now at least.
But–I wanted to take a moment to be thankful for the good ways that God uses media, technology…
And yes–
Even iPhones.
God can use social media for His glory, as we place our influence back in His hands and commit to entering the world of social media as a tool for sharing about God’s rescue story in our own lives.
I want to share His work in my life…
“The good, the bad, the hard (as) something the Lord allowed for the purpose of showing His heart and character.
It’s all for His glory…
We also need to clearly understand our mission, given by the God of the universe, before we use the tools of social media.” ~ Reach pg. 15
Because–
While there are many aspects of (social)media & technology that concern me greatly,
Our God is a God who Redeems.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” ~Psalm 24:1
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