Technology . . . and fear

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith . . ." - Romans 1:16a

Dear Friends in Christ -

Technology always seems to be racing ahead of me, turning corners into places I've never been before, opening up possibilities I'm not ready to entertain. In addition to all that, I'm an INTROVERT by nature, which means that I have no need whatsoever to have a "presence" on the internet.

However, I believe that our church . . .(St. Paul's on the Huntington Green in Shelton, CT - which I'm spelling out here so that anyone running a search today for "church" and "Shelton" might stumble on St. Paul's today through the 'back door' of this blog post) . . . Anyway, as I started to say, I believe that St. Paul's has a CALLING to have a presence on the internet. The modern-day version of shouting God's faithfulness from the housetops is to host a blog or website that's attractive enough to get 100,000 hits and/or pop up on the Google search engine when someone's searching for "inspiration and Connecticut."

I'm overwhelmed and frightened by technology, but I've been asking God for the strength to face my fears and us in venturing forth . . . because the Good News is worth sharing. Today, I felt God's encouragement through - of all places - the internet. I was blown away by the dozens and dozens of birthday blessings that came my way through Facebook. Thanks to all my faithful e-friends, I'm inspired to try to figure out how to use Facebook to bless others.

Perhaps I'll start by figuring out how to actually use the Facebook page I created but now almost never look at! All the agony and frustration of learning to work this technology will be worth it if, through it, even a handful of folks encounter God's saving power.

Faithfully facing my fears,
Janet+

PS - Afterword: Just yesterday, my daughter came home from school and announced that for the rest of the year, they'll be doing 90+ percent of their homework on the internet. I felt a chill, as if a grey shadow passed low over my head on a blustery day. Did dinosaurs have this feeling before they became extinct??