God Does Not Send Email Messages

I was just about to sign off on my computer for the night when I decided to check my email one last time. I admit that I have a certain compulsion that causes me to check my email every night before I go to bed. Now this is Saturday night and I can’t imagine what lonely souls would actually be sitting at their computer sending me email messages on Saturday, but as I said this is a compulsion with me. So I check my messages and as I expected there was nothing new. As I began to walk away from the computer I heard that familiar AOL chime and the words “You’ve Got Mail” coming from the speakers. I was surprised to hear that sound since I have not been an AOL subscriber for years. Yet, there was no mistaking that familiar sound so I turned and walked back to the computer. There in my Outlook Inbox was a new message.

My Outlook Inbox is set up to auto-preview all incoming messages. This allows me to quickly identify the sender of the message as well as see a preview of the actual text. For me this is more efficient than just seeing the subject of the message since unknown senders can often send a message with an intriguing title that then has you clicking on a virus or some other unwanted mail. The auto-preview function saves me loads of time and allows me to filter out unwanted junk messages. Looking at the “From” section of the message I saw that it said “God”. Of course I immediately thought that this must be some sort of a joke, or worse it could be a new virus going around. The last thing in the world that I wanted to do was to open a mail message from God. Still, I checked the subject area and the subject read “I Just Wanted to Speak with you.” Now I thought this had to be a joke so I decided that I might be better off just deleting the message and not falling into some sort of a virus trap so I deleted the unopened message. I figured that if the message was from a friend playing a joke that they would later ask me what I thought or let me in on their feeble attempt at email humor. When I think that something on my computer is a virus I not only delete the message, I also immediately empty my trash folder. While I was moving to the trash folder after deleting the message, the familiar “ding” went off again, and the voice once more said “You’ve Got Mail.” I looked and once more there is this message from God. This time the subject says, “I Really Do Want to Talk to You.” I was more than a bit surprised when I saw the second message, and the new title shook me. The cynic in me figured that someone is playing a fairly sophisticated joke but I admit that I was more than a bit curious. I was also concerned about a virus attack. The computers in our house have been attacked by three viruses this past year. Each time I had to completely reformat the hard drive on the computers and re-establish everyone’s settings. This process can take up to a week of my time and usually something is always lost in the process. Still, I just could not resist so I opened the message.

My Inbox is setup with a small yellow envelope icon on the left side of each message. When the envelope is closed this signifies that the message that follows has not been opened. Also, the “From” line is in black bold print until you open the message. On this message the envelope color was red. Also, the normally black bold type was colored red, as was the preview text which is normally blue. I quickly smiled at this as I was thinking of course this is just like the bible, when God is speaking the text is in red. I momentarily acknowledged to myself that whoever sent this is at least clever and creative. Now I really do want to read the message. The message was as follows:

Harvey:

It really has been some time since we last talked. I wanted to take this time to catch up with you. I have been observing how much time you spend on your computer surfing the net (yes I do know the modern terms), blogging, trolling for traffic, writing, and responding to email. In fact just today I think that you spent well over 12 hours on the computer. I know that you had a project to finish today so I am not being critical of the amount of time you spent. But, I just wonder, is there anything else that you could have done today? Now, please don’t misunderstand, I do admire your work ethic and the amount of energy you put into your work. I also know that today you were honoring a commitment that you made to a client and I have a growing respect for your desire to keep your commitments. Still, I was just wondering if there is anything else that you could have done today with your time.

I have been trying to get your attention lately but you just don’t seem to be hearing me. I know you have had trouble sleeping and that sometimes listening to music at night or an audio book has helped to calm you and put you to sleep. I was glad when my message got through to you that you should remember to talk to me at night before you fall asleep. Thanks for turning off the other distractions and taking time to talk with me. But to be direct, the reason I am sending this message to you tonight is because of something you said to me the other night. Specifically, you said “God, I realize that I have not been talking to you lately and for that I am truly sorry. I am going to try to rekindle our nightly dialogue. Still, it would be helpful to me if you would just talk back to me.” I hope you remember saying those words because, shortly after you fell fast asleep.

You once taught your staff that email messages should be short and to the point. I think you said that you would not read an email message if it was longer than two paragraphs. I hope you are still reading (Not only do I have an excellent memory, I like to poke fun every once in a while). None the less let me get to the point. Since you have rekindled (strange choice of words here) our nightly dialogue and complained that I am not holding up my end of the conversation, I thought that I would respond to you in the manner to which you are most acutely attuned. You love email and you love talking through your computer. You have become an expert at being efficient with your time and you break down all of your important goals into manageable increments. Yet, as important as you say I am in your life, we only have nightly conversations. And even those are far too short. I read what you wrote the other day about how to get more reading done every day and I was inspired to give you some pointers. If you would like to have a two way conversation with me why not try talking to me when you are both quiet and awake. A perfect time would be when you are taking a break from your work, standing in a line, watching the microwave cook, or waiting for your coffee to brew. I am not asking you to close your eyes or make a scene, just direct your thoughts to me. Start slowly Harvey as you develop your “praying muscle” to paraphrase something you said the other day. Think of me as a friend that you want to talk to as you go through the events of the day. You know like those quick phone calls you make from your cell phone to your friend when you just want to share a quick thought or your email messages to your brother when you want to say something quickly. Why not add me to your “address book.” What’s great is that I am totally wireless these days (actually I have always been), and you don’t even need a hotspot. I am instant on with zero wait time and you don’t need an ISP or unique address to get to me. Why not start today and I promise you will hear from me more often.

One last thing Harvey before I close, I don’t send email messages. I place thoughts in your heart, beauty before your eyes or let you hear inspiring words. I impress your friends to call when you are down, or lead you to passages that will uplift you when you need inspiration. I have been “talking” to you every day. I trust that now you will start listening.

God