Griffin's Texting Birthday

I’ll never forget that day. 

It was a Friday

And my sister was in labor with her first child. 

I was in divinity school at the time and

I had become good friends with someone who texted a lot. 

Until that point in my life, I had texted no one. 

On that day, though,  

19 years ago, 

At the hospital, waiting for Griffin to fly into the world,

I sent my first text to my text-loving friend,

And I haven’t looked back since! 

 

In those early days,

Text messages had a 130-character limit.

You paid to send and receive text messages

And so texting could be rather expensive. 

But I didn’t care.

It was new. 

And it was fun. 

And it allowed me to keep in touch with people without talking on the phone!

 

Now, I can’t imagine my life without it!

 

It’s amazing what a simple text can do.

An out of the blue thinking of you, 

A conversation easier to write than to say,

A joke,

A prayer,

A meme,

A picture,

From upstairs,

From across the country or world,

A text can literally change the course of someone’s day. 

A text can literally save someone’s life.

And a text is not hard to send.

 

No more 130 character limits.

No more tapping on the number 2 three times to get the letter C .

No more pay as you go. 

Just a qwerty keyboard for most

And an opportunity to influence someone’s life for the better for all.

 

I know.

Texts can be harmful too.

Cyber bullying is real and harmful and must be watched. 

But today, 

On my Griffin’s 19th birthday,

On this day that dramatically changed my life, 

I want to extol the goodness of texting 

And encourage you to use it for good. 

 

God—

You have given humankind the ability to think of cool things like texting. 

It blows my mind that written 

Words can invisibly fly through the air 

And make it to somewhere else

In a moment’s time. 

Thank you. 

Now, let us use those moments and texts for good. 

Amen.