The age of telecommunication has taken some amazing strides in my generation. I remember growing up with the 50-foot telephone cord in the kitchen that could stretch to every corner of the house. Then came the answering machine and “cordless” phone. It was always fun to see how far in your front yard that you can go before you loos the signal. Then came the pagers. I still can’t figure out that one. Perhaps we can chalk that one up as a step backwards, but don’t tell that to the tweenager in the 90’s who was convinced that having at least two of them qualified you for being a really important person. 🙂
With the advent of the cellular phone, things picked up rather quickly. We moved from being able to talk over the cell phone to being able to communicate through instant messaging, text messaging, and phone calls through the Internet. Speaking of the Internet, not only could you call, but you could video chat, including conference calls, and livestream from anywhere in the world. Of course, the world of social media opened up ways of communicating through Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, turning our lives into a communications hub for the world around us. If I factored all the ways I communicate on a weekly basis, it is truly remarkable (cell phone, text, email, instant messaging, Facebook, Twitter, livestream, and video chat).
But this morning it hit me. I’m talking about the most amazing medium of communication. What am I referring to?
It is this amazing medium called prayer. Prayer connects heaven to earth with unlimited minutes at no cost to us. We don’t have to check the signal strength or continually ask the question, “Can you hear me now?” Nor do we have to worry about answering machines or God’s availability. He’s always there, willing and desiring to hear from us. With all the technological advances making communication available in the most remarkable of ways, prayer is the envy of them all.
This leads me to wonder, since we have the most amazing medium of communication,why so few people avail themselves to it and why it is so seldom employed? As I write this blogpost, a tweet from Paul Washer comes across my background which says:
A Christian who does not pray is like prince in beggars clothes who stands but a few inches from His father’s throne and yet does not ask.
A few inches from this throne but we so often live like there is “no service available” to our Father in heaven. When people look at our lives and find us hyper-connected in our communication-intense world, I wonder if we are communicating to them the most meaningful and powerful form of communication of all–prayer. When Paul was converted, the way in which Ananias was to find Paul was to find the man who was in prayer. I’m afraid that today when people come looking for us, they will be directed to Facebook.
My hope is that God will grant me such an appreciation of this most amazing medium of communication that I will continually access it throughout my life, not because I have so much to say but because I have someone I so much enjoy being with.