 Not Exactly An "Acceptable" Request
When my pastor looked at the floor, I knew my prayer request wasn't what he wanted to hear.
It was Wednesday night. The night of the week when my church comes together for the midweek "Family Night" service. Kids tucked away out of sight in the basement for their programs; adults upstairs in a circle of chairs for Bible study.
At the end of the evening, Pastor asked for prayer requests. I had one – a pretty good one too. Or so I thought.
"I write for a couple of websites and I'm trying to figure out how to be a good witness"
I'd love to say Pastor jumped up with a shout of praise or a heart-felt Amen. "Way to go, Monica! What a great opportunity!" Nope. Nothing like that for me. Like I said, he looked at the floor, and one of the church deacons, sitting next to him, did the same.
Oops. Body language.
If you think that reaction was bad, it gets even worse.
"The evil on the Internet... '' Pastor ran a hand through his hair. That's about all I heard, cause the rest I didn't want to hear.
Let me just put this out there before I continue:
I love the Internet, with all it's social groups, Facebook, blogs, and StumbleUpon. The people I've met through blogging and Twitter I consider my friends, just as real as flesh and blood relationships. Hey, I'm a stay-at-home mom, don't forget. I need my water cooler time too. Online shopping makes Christmas fun. Suddenly writing alone at night isn't so... alone. Company is just a click of the mouse away. Often you must ignore it, or get nothing done.
Oh, and email. I love getting email. A Different Generational PerspectiveI understand where my Pastor is coming from, I'm sure he's dealt plenty with the dark side of cyberspace. The porn, the chat rooms with Lord-knows-what going on, the predators lurking, wanting to lure a child to harm. A few years back we had a guy in our congregation meet a young lady online, they married, but the marriage crashed and burned after a short run.
My Pastor is of a different generation, a grandfather. Perhaps if he were younger, he would see the Internet differently, like I do. He has a computer with Internet access in his office (with some sort of software to block naughty sites) that he uses for writing the sermon, email and research, but using the web for social interaction – I bet he thinks it's a waste of time.
Now that you know where I stand, I want to hear from you: Is the Internet the devil or your friend? How does your church use the web to its' advantage. And does your Pastor need to be baptized into the beauty of free high speed Internet and FriendFeed?
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