It Used to Be…

It used to be that you had only two ways to reach someone. Phone call… Snail mail…

Yes. I’m old enough to have a vague memory of shared phone lines with a specific number of rings meant for you, or perhaps a neighbor down the line. Essentially you shared a common phone line and particular rings meant the phone call was for you, but there was really nothing from stopping you from listening in on everyone else’s calls! Or them yours!

I remember working for a company that allowed its employees to register to use their WATS line (Wide Area Telephone Service). It was an early attempt at controlling long-distance phone expenses so an evening call to family far from you was made for the cost of a local phone call.

Then push-button service came along, modular phone installs, and finally the ability to unplug your home line when you did not want to receive calls! Remember when you used to call the Operator or Information for assistance? Now the Internet has taken over the search engines! Or, makes a special call to Reverse the Charges?!!!? Or make a Person-to-Person call so you did not have to pay for whoever picked up the phone that was not the person you were wanting to talk to? Of course, coded phone messages like this often meant you had arrived at your destination and all it cost you was a little time to let someone know you were safe!

Today.

Well. Today you carry your connection with you everywhere you go, and like Dick Tracy, you are in constant contact with the world. Cost is accepted as simply the way life is conducted in this present world! Messaging goes through the Internet and most WIFI is simply free!

I also remember when stamps used to cost less than a nickel and it was the most common way of communicating long distance. Grandmother would send us a birthday card with $2 and she did it every year until you passed your 18th birthday. Now that you were an adult, well, I guess you were too old for a $2 bill…

I have this vague memory of a penpal in another country. India, I think. We kept in contact through 4th or 5th grade and then it died out. Wonder why?

It is so different.

I get communication from many sources of inputs and it’s getting difficult to remember from what source we last communicated! I have 4 main email addresses I use for differing reasons, and then add email for the various entry points for church and business, well, since I’m a pack-rat I can probably find your message even if it came a dozen years ago.

Yes. I still have your rants from long ago!

Every Social Media platform has communication, along with text messaging, emails and every so often a phone call, and almost never a mailed letter.

Now my contact book is no longer a simple page with address and phone number, I now have to remember each family persons special contact info and then add/subtract them from my various Social Media platforms, and keep up with the ever-changing mobile number and email address!

Just this week I wondered about a long-time friend
and without having any of his contact information (phone number or mailing address),
I went to that modern place we often turn to when looking for someone.
Social Media.
We’ve shared a lot over the years with this medium,
but he is no longer there.
I reached out to his daughter, who, thankfully, is still available that way,
and she got us connected.

Communication Exists, But It’s So Different

Communication still exists as it used to, and we all remember it used to be a fairly simple task to communicate. Now it’s complex and changing all the time. I’m not interested in going back to phone calls and snail-mail, but I am interested in a system that keeps your communications stored in a central spot so I will always know where you are communicating from and how best to reach you!

Over the past several years I tested communication effectiveness. I put myself removed from the public eye in several areas, and wouldn’t you know it?!! I only get contacted if I’m the first to reach out. Out of sight. Out of mind. I refuse to be the squeaky wheel where someone feels the need to grab the oil can. But I do miss the fact that others will not reach out to me as I’ve reached out to them over the years. It should be a 2-way street, but it ain’t!

Here’s my thought.

I believe God is always willing to speak to us and is patiently waiting for us to speak to him!

True. You can write out your thoughts on the Social Platforms of the world, both current and anything in the future. I’m sure that God knows what you are saying just as if you talked to him over the phone, or face to face. The prophet Isaiah writes about God’s hearing and listening skills:

“It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer;
And while they are still speaking, I will hear.
(Isaiah 65:24 NKJV)

But I believe the main point is you being accountable enough to start the conversation! Write it out, speak it out, even think it out. If God knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart, then prayer can simply be thinking it through with His input helping to direct. Prayer, coupled with His Word, will always give you direction and another way to consider what it is you should be doing.

For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
and of joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
    (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV)

If you think it, then you’ve considered it. (Proverbs 23:7) And it is Paul in the Love Chapter that tells us Love thinks no evil! (1 Corinthians 13:5)

Today. Why don’t you spend some old-fashioned time with God? Some would call it Knee-Mail! Talk to him. Out loud or quietly. Or do it in your mind. But always keep His Word as part of the task. These two Access Points will always keep you in-line with the Mind of God.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
(Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV)