FRANK M. BARBUSH, The Grandfather I Never Knew

Does God Do E-Mail?

Does God Have An E-Mail List?

E-Mail. What did some of us do before E-Mail?  Paper, envelope, and stamps - now called snail mail because it took days.  E-Mail is "instant", consistent with the way we live today.

E-Mail: "Electronic mail, most commonly referred to as email or e-mail since approximately 1993, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks". [Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email]

E-Mail has been around since approximately 1993, 20 years ago.  So, now is an anniversary.  About that time, I remember someone talking about how they could instantly communicate with a daughter who went off to college.  That was before I even had a home computer.  I never forgot that story by that father.  I wanted to be able to E-Mail.

What's the one thing that we expect to receive from sending our an E-Mail?  I would say, response.  We have something to say to someone and we want to get a response, an acknowldgment, a recognition of some sort.  We may be expressing an idea, a friendly letter to someone, a business offer, a sale of some kind, and often just a funny item to make someone laugh.  We write for a reason, and we would like to have a reponse to that writing.  We probably most often get responses to our electronic messages.  But sometimes we get no response.  If we use an E-Mail list, usually a low percentage on that list will respond.  A response brings recognition that our recipients are paying attention to what we say.  No response may make make us wonder why we are not getting one.

Does God Do E-Mail?  If He did, what would He call it?  Electronic Mail?  If God did E-mail and had an E-Mail list, He could call it His Eternal List, or His Everyone List, or both - His Eternal List of Everyone.  God's message relates to what happens to us eternally and it relates to all of us.

God does do E-Mail.  He is sending us, everyone, messages that have an everlasting impact on us and others, an eternal impact, an impact without end.  Are we reading His E-Mails?  Are we listening to what He says in His E-Mails?  Or are we ignoring what He says.  Do we even know He is sending us a message, and Eternal Message for Everyone?

In our Snail Mail, we get what we call "Junk Mail".  In our E-Mail, we get what we call "Spam Mail". Junk Mail gets tossed in the can and Spam Mail gets deleted.  Generally, both Junk Mail and Spam Mail are frowned upon and people sometimes get quite mad about receiving too much of either.  So, we might even have Spam Mail automatically identified and deleted so we do not even have to do anything with it.  Are we doing the same with God's Eternal Mail, God's Everyone Mail?

Many of us use an e-mail list to send out what is thought to be a special message to the members of the list.  Sometimes, messages are considered Spam Mail.  When we am sincerely writing to someone and they consider that writing spam, that's not a feel good label.  That can be considered to be a label of rejection.  They do not want to hear what we have to say because they don't want to be bothered, or they don't have the time to pay attention to our message.  They may even ask to be deleted from the E-Mail list.  Or, you get the "Not Read" notice for your E-Mail.  The person sees our message and deletes it without opening it.  When using E-Mail lists, the thought is not to take any rejection personally, because there are many justifiable reasons why people do not want to receive our messages.  That's good advice.  Maybe their workplace does not allow the receipt of personal E-Mail.  Maybe they receive so much E-Mail that they must delete some because it's all just too much to manage.  That's understandable and acceptable.

Here's the deal.  God does have an E-Mail list, and everyone is on it.  Everyone is receiving messages from God on a regular basis.  Are we opening His E-Mail or do we consider it spam?  Do we recognize that He is trying to tell us something meaningful or do we think we just don't have time to read all His E-Mail to us?  Do we fall into the trap of thinking God is not our focus right now because we have been taught to separate our religious world from our secular world?  

God is sending us mail.  His written word.  His thoughts sent to our minds.  His messages given to someone who speaks to us.  When we look at something in His creation.  We are receiving His eternal messages.  Are we opening them?

God has a E-Mail List.  And you are on it.  Here is your address: Each&Everyone@EternalLife.God