yahoogle

From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul. –Deut. 4:9

Let’s pretend it’s 1985.

I tell you I’m a genius. You can ask me anything.

So you give it a shot: “The weather today in Botswana?” Clear and 61 degrees. “The Russian word for ‘rope’?” верёвка. “How many McDonalds restaurants in Council Bluffs, Iowa?” Three. The most common ground squirrel in New England? Ahh, trick question. In New England, ground squirrels aren’t nearly as prevalent as tree squirrels.

In 1985, I would be hot stuff. Probably rich. Maybe an advisor to the president.

But here in 2014, I’m just a dude with access to the Internet.

Nowadays everybody has access to just about all the information there is. Books, facts, charts, pictures, it’s all a few keystrokes away. It’s exciting! Enough to make you want to shout, “Yahoogle!”

However, sometimes I wonder if there’s a downside. The fact that I can instantly access scores for high school baseball games played in Guam seems a tad much. The notion that if I wanted to, I could read reviews for the movie Captain America in Ireland is just…strange. It used to be that information was a commodity, a prize to be accumulated and treasured.

Now? We’re way past information overload. Now information is just….there. Constant. Like a constant buzzing sound in your ear.

I don’t know. Maybe this is what the world looks like when it’s populated by geniuses. Everyone has access to all there is to know, but somehow we still have the same problems. “Smart” people still argue over the facts when it comes to political issues. The rich still get richer and the poor still get poorer. I guess I’m disappointed the search engine hasn’t saved us all.

One thing you can’t find on Yahoo! or Google is the meaning of life.

Oh, there are a number of opinions on the subject (47,000,000 to be exact) but when knowledge moves from the realm of facts to the realm of faith, the answers become more elusive. If you want to know God, or your place in the world, or how humans should treat each other, there are plenty of articles you can read. But truly finding that kind of Truth comes from searching your heart (not to mention the Good Book) and growing your faith. There’s more to it than typing in keywords.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that as our technology increases, we must make sure our wisdom and our faith don’t lag behind. The Internet may surely be a cause to shout Yahoogle! But without a filter of faith…

It all sounds like nonsense.

Have a Great Week,

Mitch