Strangely Disconnected

By Ken Canedo

There I was, surfing the Net and blissfully typing away when suddenly the screen went dark. I hit space bar and shifted the mouse. Nothing. No restart or reboot could revive my trusty old laptop. I was dead in the water.

This is very disconcerting. I have been connected to the World Wide Web pretty much continuously since 1993. To be deprived of my ability to email, navigate the Internet, and do my content work on this website is more painful than I expected. By force of habit, I have gone to my desk to check email, only to be sadly disappointed by the absence of my laptop companion. Is this how Luke Skywalker felt when R2-D2 was zapped by the Imperial Forces? I feel strangely disconnected.

Obviously, I'm back online, thanks to a loaner computer, while my R2 is in the shop. This whole situation reminds me of our connection to God. I have given talks on the idea of prayer as God's World Wide Web. Think about it. Through prayer we are in intimate connection with loved ones across the country, around the globe, and even beyond the grave. Through prayer we are one with saints, angels, and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How awesome is that?

The difference between the Internet and God's Web is that we are never disconnected from God. No amount of sin, weakness or perceived unworthiness can sever our divine connection. St. Paul expressed it eloquently:

What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? . . . For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Romans 8:35-39

I would add "crashed computers" to St. Paul's list. Even if we do turn away and embrace sin, God is waiting patiently for us to restart, sending us this basic txt msg: Welcome home. God's screen never goes dark.