Friday’s Fave Techno Five # 5

Because I’ve not been home this week, I’ve been especially thankful for technology that keeps me connected to home. Here are five below. And check out Susanne’s site to see God at work elsewhere. 

1. GPS
It’s been so handy this week, even though last night we honed in on a Michaels, and GG took us to a Staples instead. Oh well. The cashier there gave us directions to the real-world Michaels, but when we plugged that into the GPS, Jeff overrode GG’s directions with his own manly internal GPS. She wasn’t happy, complaining, “Recalculating, recalculating” until we arrived on the doorstep of Michaels, showing her that my man does knows what he’s doing.
But still. I’m thankful for our GPS.  
 
2. Cell phones and my cheap plan 
My little one is on a mission trip in the Appalachians this week, but I still get a call on my cell phone each morning from her (when she  can get service). She fills me in on her days; I’m thankful I can hear her sweet voice from many miles and many states away. 
And I love that I still have the same great cell plan that I started out with years ago before they had monthly fees. I keep waiting for them to hunt me down and say, oops, they made a mistake, because it’s too good to be true.

3. Twitter
I really didn’t know if I would use it, but I do. It’s the one social media that Jeff is using, too, so it’s another way for us to stay connected in little ways throughout the day. On Monday he got a Blackberry through work, so I suspect I’ll hear from him a little more.
I also like getting tweets from my nieces this week about babysitting and boyfriends and movies. And from my sister about almost anything. And occasionally swapping book titles with “Lisa Writes...” And hearing what Max Lucado is doing in Hawaii. This is important stuff.

4. My old school MP3 player
When my old player broke, I had to buy and consequently return several new models that didn’t satisfy me. I finally gave up and bought an old style one off eBay that was exactly what I wanted. (What did I do before eBay?)
This week I used it to listen to Allen’s Sunday’s sermon from home that I missed, and Revelation classes from 2 months ago, and to Focus on the Family podcasts, and numerous interesting lessons off the internet. Many hours of middle-of-the-night inspiration.
Just don’t quiz me to see what I’ve retained.

5. Facebook, of course
It’s a biggie way to know what everyone is doing and how they feel about it. Is that a plus? Well, most of the time. This week I’ve used it to make plans for who is bringing what to our family dinner on Sunday. And Lynn and I have learned to chat real-time through it. 

* * * * *

I could go on—I’ve had some big laughs over e-mail attachments and from blogs I’ve read in Google Reader. But that would put me over my limit of five things, so I’ll keep them as a smile inside.

In the end, these techno gadgets are still basically about people—getting us where we need to go, showing us ways to communicate messages to each other, connecting us heart to heart. Good stuff. God stuff. Things that He designed us to do.

With or without technology.