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.
