AI Image showing the earth on a circuit board
What Happens When The Internet Fails

A solid night of sleep
Perhaps the first in a few weeks
Life is coming together,
Summer has faded, the temps are cooler,
And the future looks brighter.

Right? Maybe.

A thought burbled to the surface as I sat down to my morning routine.
We depend so much on the internet.
My morning headlines, scripture dive, and even my writing routine.
If it’s up, is it fast or slow?
Do we communicate with it? Or is it unplugged?

It’s the season we are in.
Instability. Sometimes good.
Oft times, it just doesn’t work.
At church, my bank, and even here at the homestead.

What on earth is our backup plan if it fails?

There is very little we can do when the internet is not well.
Paying bills, receiving notices and statements,
Scheduling appointments, review medical results,
And even making phone calls.

When we go somewhere to shop…
Nothing is on the shelves without the internet allowing it.
Nothing gets produced without the internet.
Especially if it is meant to go to the market.

Think about that for a moment.
Medicine. Gasoline. Food. Essentials. Electricity.
Water from my well.
Catch my drift?

When the electricity fails,
I have a backup generator I hope starts up.
A camp stove, battery lanterns, and dried food to survive.
In the closet, there’s an old rotary phone we depend on.
In other words, we make do.

But if the internet fails… what do we do?

The internet has become our Achilles Heel.
A weak point. Vulnerability.
If it fails, we fail.

Without the internet, my morning routine changes.
This blog post will never show up.
If my computer has the blue screen of death
Who cares? I need the internet to fix it.

Without the internet, life becomes a fearful place.

There is a book I enjoy reading from time to time.
It’s on my Kindle, which will probably be worthless without the Internet.

At a restaurant last week, a family sat to eat.
Immediately, kids and adults whipped out their streaming devices,
And barely acknowledging anyone, they focused on their entertainment.
And all were subject to their unfiltered speakers. How rude.

George R Stewart, “The Earth Abides.” (Published in 1949.) I read it again at the start of C-19. What do you do when something happens that ends most of life on Earth? You enter life at a new stage, adapt, and build it up again. If you are fortunate to have survived, your life will be different than you could ever imagine. Stewart takes the title from scripture.

One generation passes away,
and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.
(Ecclesiastes 1:4 NKJV)

I’m reminded again.
With God, I survive.
No matter what the world becomes.
War. Rumors. Cataclysmic events.
Diseases. Death. Turmoil.

Until that time, where will there be… what?

John the Revelator wrote of the things he saw.
It was not his job to understand, only to write.
He did it without the Internet…
A writing instrument…a scribe
A parchment of sorts…paper.

At the end of his book…
John says this:

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
Also there was no more sea.
(Revelation 21:1 NKJV)

I have a promise.
I respect what’s happening and what the future holds.
I know whom I’ve trusted and believed.
He is able. To keep what I’ve committed to Him…
Until that day. (2 Timothy 1:12)

Thank you for reading.
Please share with others.
It helps me get my book written!

(Below, you may find other topics similar to this one. Please read on!)


By Michael Gurley

Making Sense of Life, One Thought at a Time!