Sunday Devotion- Special Delivery

Janet Rubin


Sometimes I’m doing dishes when I hear it. Other times I’m reading or sweeping the floor. I'm talking about the distinct hum the mail truck makes as it moves from the next door neighbor’s mailbox to ours. During most of the year, the sound doesn’t elicit much excitement. I’ll peel off my dish gloves, slip on some shoes and amble down to the box, knowing that most of what I retrieve there—credit card offers and such—I’ll simply transfer from the mailbox to the blue trash can on the opposite side of the driveway, and that the mail I keep will be bothersome stuff like bills.

But in December, postal deliveries excite me. This is the season for Christmas cards and letters from friends not heard from lately, or even better…packages! Today, when I grabbed my pile of mail from the box, I found a square package about double the size of a CD, sent by someone in Ohio. I couldn’t for the life of me guess who the package was from or what it contained, and I practically skipped back to the front door as I relished the mystery. The lyrics, “brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things,” came to mind, and I hummed the tune, not with Julie Andrews' vocal talent, but with just as much enthusiasm.

Inside, I tore into my package the way my teenager does a bag of Doritos. And found… two slices of fruit cake. Yes, fruit cake! From my friend and on-line critique partner Yvonne who lives in Ohio. I couldn’t have been more delighted. Several days ago, our group members took a brief respite from their grueling writing schedules (ha ha) to chat about what they were up to in their “normal” lives. Yvonne had been busy making her “famous” fruitcake. I mentioned that I had never actually tried fruit cake. So my dear friend sent me some. Two fruity slabs of friendship.

And again I marveled at how God uses so many things—even the internet—to bless us. Satan uses the internet for so much that is evil and vile. Pornography, filth, and all variety of sin. There are forums where people discuss their hatred of Christians or gay people or just about any kind of people. Chat rooms where people work themselves into such a frenzy that their bitterness morphs into malice that isn’t content to simply “chat,” but insists on acting out in violence against someone. I could go on and on with examples of the way the enemy uses this marvel of technology called the Internet.

But I’d rather point out how God is here too, helping the members of the body of Christ connect around the world. Helping writers—those who mirror the creative image of God—get together and encourage one another, pray together, help one another become better writers, have blogs and sites that are also ministries… or make a friend with someone hundreds of miles away who will care enough to share fruitcake at Christmas.

Yvonne is just one of the many special sisters I’ve met on-line. How comforting to know that God is omni-present—in Heaven, on earth, and yes, in cyber-space too. He’s got the whole world, Internet included, in His hands. It’s been a tough year for my crit group. Two dear sisters lost husbands to cancer, one is facing surgery, one struggled with depression (okay, that was me), one worries over her child’s worsening disability, and there’s been more too. But how lovely it has been to lift one another up in prayer, to offer cyber-hugs and continue on with our writing, which is sometimes a healing activity. How good of God to bring us together for just that purpose!

Some imagine God up in Heaven frowning down at us from far off, or hanging around in church buildings just waiting for company to show up. But He is everywhere. The Psalmist says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” (Psalm 139) He is everywhere. And I’m so glad that I can know His hand will guide me even here in cyber-space--making divine appointments with people He wants me to meet, leading me to write things someone out there somewhere needs to read, leading others to write things I need to read!

How has God used the internet to bless you?

Lord, You taught us to pray that You will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Today we pray that Your will be done is cyber-space as well. Thank You that You use all things—even technology—for the good of those who love You. Amen.