Some time ago, Dave Dugas and I were talking about making a CD from an old LP. (You know, a vinyl record. Those round black things that you can't but anywhere except antique stores anymore. Quick trivia - how many grooves are on a record?) We talked about it a bit, and I told him yes I had the hardware and the software necessary. A few weeks went by, and Dave asked me again if I was serious about being able to make a CD. He had always wanted "The Impossible Dream - the store of the 1967 Boston Red Sox" on CD but it's an old, old record. Dave had won the record on Ebay and I believe he doesn't even have a record player!

So Dave brought the record to church and I brought it home. A few hectic weeks went by, and it was still sitting there. Dave was probably going crazy wondering when I would get around to making it up for him. It seemed every time I determined to do it, something got in the way. Finally, yesterday morning I woke up and said today is the day! First thing out of bed, before I had completely dressed or brushed my teeth, there I was wheeling my stereo (with turntable) over next to my computer and hooking it all up. I remembered that I had already downloaded the software, but not to the computer that I would be doing the recording on. No problem, I thought, I will simply download it again.

Nothing doing. Our Internet provider was down. No Service at all! And the version that I had put on another computer, a rather inconvenient one, was not transferable.

This got me thinking. When I was a kid, there was no internet. There were Saturday morning cartoons. When my dad was a kid, were there cartoons at all? Did he even have a TV? When grandpa was a kid, there were no TVs. We sure rely on out "things", don't we? Suppose the internet crashed one day and could not be restarted. What a hue and cry so many people would put up! Suppose our power grid got nailed and we were left without electricity for a few weeks, or even indefinitely. Why, how would we ever get by? Suppose there was no more gasoline, or nor more beef, or no more telephones? Is there a work around solution? Would civilization collapse?

Of course not. No more internet? Well how about that, you'll have to go to the store to buy that new sweater. And Aunt Molly will get a genuine letter with a stamp on the envelope. No more electricity? When it gets dark, either light a candle/lamp or go to bed. The sun will be back tomorrow. No more gasoline? Well, I hear steam power only really depends on wood and coal, and in New England we have plenty of wood. No more beef? Hey, people have only been eating beef as a mainstay of their diets since the Civil War. Before there were cowboys there were pig boys (yes this is really true) that rounded up herds of pigs. Chicken is nice, too. No more telephones? Wow, no one to ask you if you want siding or new windows while you have your mouth full, since they called right when you were eating dinner anyway. Inconvenient? Yes, but with all these ways to work around the problems, civilization would not collapse.

We rely on these services to entertain us, to assist us, to help us enjoy our lives. But none of them are irreplaceable. I did, by the way, get my internet service restored later in the day and I managed to drop Dave's record to CD. There is one thing I obviously counted on, though. God. I had the time, because God granted it to me. I had the talent, because God gave it to me. God made the rules of our universe, that allow electricity to flow, to power the internet, to even make the sun rise tomorrow. We get so used to our "things", that when they are gone we grumble but manage to get along. God is not a thing, but imagine if one day He was not there for us. There's not a work around for that!

Luke 12:17-20 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

I Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Matthew 6:28-34 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.