Monday, August 09, 2010

www v.God


Last week I was without internet for two days.
You would think that someone had come along and stole half my brain.
It seemed I couldn't get anything done.
It was like my life had turned into a picture taken with a 2 pixel camera.
Everything was still there, but I just couldn't get it into good focus.

I just read this article by a Father Jim and it inspired me
to remember that sometimes I don't go to the BEST resource for answers.
I can rely on God for answers a whole lot more than I do.
But, even though I do believe in God and going to Him for answers
I am not sure how much he would have helped me
with the following dilemmas that I faced
while being without my bestfriend the www.

I couldn't figure out what to cook without allrecipes.com.

How was I supposed to find my way to the new doctor's office without mapquest.com?

I couldn't call Abigail's new school because I didn't have a way to look up the number.
Apparently I forgot how to use a phone book. Even if I could remember how to use one, actually finding it would be a whole different story.

I couldn't go grocery shopping because I was unable to make my master plan without my most glorious coupon matcher Jenny at southernsavers.

What was going on in the world? How would I know without cnn.com or my local knoxnews?

I couldn't study my scriptures without lds.org. O.k. I actually still read from the paper Bible, but I couldn't use my study guides to help me along like usual, much less the words that I usually read from modern church leaders to enhance my understanding.

I can't renew my books without knoxlib.org.

I couldn't pay bills without access to my online accounts...not telling you what they are.

I couldn't check that finished book off my list at goodreads.

I had no idea how much money I had (which probably wasn't much anyway)
without instant access to my checking account.

Pre-ordering movies from redbox was impossible.
I would have to go and hope for the best in line at the machine.

The girls were driving me crazy without their youtube and littlepetshops fixes.

It seems I can't even spell without dictionary.com.

And, maybe the worst of all, I didn't even know WHERE I was supposed to be.
This year I converted my usual fridge calendar to google calendar
and I was really feeling lost without it.

The only way I knew where I was supposed to be
was to call my husband and have him look it up on his phone.

"Um, Alice, you were supposed to be at play group an hour ago."
"Ah, man, I knew I was forgetting something."

I couldn't access family pictures.

How can I even mother without the random things that I use google for on an hourly basis.?
I've talked about my love for google in the past.
Let me give you some words I have recently typed into the search engine:
how to remove carpet glue from flooring,
treatments for ________rash,
signs of menopause,
home remedies for dog's with dry skin,
what's the difference between ADD and ADHD?,
codependence support groups online,
campsites in TN,
and the list could seriously go on for another page...
and that is all just from the last few hours of today.

None of these ordinary modern inconveniences even touch how isolated I felt from the world
without my e-mail, blog, blog reader, and facebook.

I guess I am not the only one who has become too dependent on the internet.
I recently heard my Bishop get up and speak when there was unexpected time left in a meeting. He got up on the spot and read a really good quote....
straight from his phone.
He said, "I would be lost without google."

I will give him this though,
I am pretty sure God told him to read that quote.

And after my few blurry days last week,
all I've got to say is
"It's just a good thing that God has google."
How else could he expect the Bishop to pull out that sermon in two seconds flat?

8 comments:

Ader Family said...

all of this is sooo true. how did you ever manage, a few years ago, with out all this technology.....

Marilyn said...

I hear ya, sistah. I was lost when my baby was in the shop a few months ago.

Lori said...

This cracks me up. Especially the phone quoting at the end. Technology sure is handy.

One Happy Family said...

A church sign I saw the other day goes along with your post. It said, "Don't go to Google for all your answers, go to God".

Daisy Rain Martin said...

Without the Internet, I wouldn't have been able to read this AWESOME POST!!!! Hahahaha! Love you, girl! Love, Daisy Rain

Mel said...

Alice, It's called an Iphone! It has saved me many times when my comp. has gone out! But seriously too much of anything can be bad.

Holly said...

I'm with Mel on this one. I don't have an iphone, but I do have a droid incredible, and it has saved me twice this week when the power was out! You are right. I really can't manage well at all without cyberspace. And I probably have a list of crazy google's to match yours just in the past week. And I LOVE it. I LOVE that God has blessed our lives with such amazing technology, if for no other reason, then for the opportunity to reconnect with some amazing friends like YOU, who I would never be able to laugh and cry with except over blog stories! :) (although, really, we were only 3 hours away in Louisville before we moved here two years ago--why was facebook not invented earlier!!!That would have been such a FUN roadtrip!)

cally said...

I saw a working payphone the other day. I cried a little, the way I do when I see any sort of childhood memorabilia. And encyclopedias. I get weepy.

It's all in the palm of our hands. Quite literally.