This last week has been one of church planning, visiting and deciding.
In the midst of all this, I’ve had little time to surf the web. I missed it!
A few decades ago I would never have made that statement!
In 1986 I was serving as a Teacher’s Assistant while completing my Master of Library Science. The computer was just becoming a home appliance. In my earlier high school days I had done some computer programming and enjoyed it thoroughly. When the professor who taught Computer introduction found this out, she asked if I would sit in the computer lab. All I had to do was help students turn on the computers and not break anything when the computers failed to do what they were told. And for the timid soul, I taught them to “push the button — it won’t blow up.”
While in the computer lab I also to helped students sign on to various library databases. To find information on the web required reference books and perseverance. Search engines were pretty well non-existant (the term “googled” was a non-term, waiting to be born!!).
When it came to surfing the web, most students were just beginners looking for water — they couldn’t even fathom there were waves big enough to ride!
At the time, I took the view that this “net” thing was fun, but not a necessity. 20 years later I have a very different POV (point of view)!
Now, I use the net to prepare sermons, find phone numbers, check on travel and accommodation, find appliance manuals, read/hear the news, find jokes and illustrations! The other day I asked my wife for the translation of a latin phrase. Having studied Latin in high school she easily translated most of the phrase. But when part of the phrase seemed to be a mystery, she headed right to Google instead of to a Latin dictionary.
So, tonight after more meetings, I’ll head home. Check on some blogs. See about some news. And maybe just pick a word out of the air and see what Google turns up!
