It has been a winter to remember!
Most of us in the southern United States rarely see any kind of winter precipitation, or if we do, it is usually nothing more than a dusting of snow or a slight icing of the roadways. However, this year has been wild.
Here at the headquarters for Convergent Streams, we were without electricity for 74 1/2 hours. It was another two days after that before the internet was restored. This led to the small delay in the publication of this quarter’s magazine. For that, I am truly sorry.
This quarter our magazine is also a little lite on articles. I can only attribute that to the numerous rounds of winter storms that have plagued most of the United States. All of us have been focused on survival and helping those around us who need the most help. That is far more important work than to write for CS. That is living the Gospel!
In my time away from electricity and internet, in what was no doubt a combination of mild hypothermia and internet withdraw, I began to see things a little more clearly. I began to see how dependent we have become on technology. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my tablet and laptop as much as the next guy. However, we have come to a point where we live more in cyberspace than we do in real space.
A prime example of this could be seen a few nights ago when I went out to eat with my family. There we were at a local restaurant and I began to look around at the 30 or so people seated in the establishment. About 10 of them were kids under the age of 16. Every single one of those kids had a cell phone, video game console or tablet of some kind and spent the entire time eating and playing on their electronic devices.
Now one might say that this is merely the tend of the next generation. Yet, many of the parents and adults in the establishment could not pull themselves away from their email or Facebook accounts long enough to speak two words to their children.
As the moral leaders of the next generation, we must lead by example. The only way to do that is to put down the electronics and begin to see each other for who we are, not for the things we post online or for our scores in some video game. We need to take time to help each other find themselves again and to unplug from time to time.
It is not easy, but it very necessary, for the sake of our lives and our spiritual well-being. Only then can we reconnect with the divine and recharge our own batteries in a way that will make it easier to deal with life’s problems (real problems) and issues that we face day in and day out.
And know that while I too am trying to detox from the Internet, that I will be praying for you every step of the way!
Many God richly bless you all!
+Gregory
