Networking

You've seen the commercials on TV,
I'm sure. The ones that show a cell phone
user backed by a 'network' of folks that
number in the hundreds, seemingly. The
most recent one shows the network
standing on top of a moving train,
ducking and swaying as they support
the person sitting down below. Very,
very effective advertising.

Don't you wish, though, that it was the
church that had come up with that idea?
I mean, the screen shows a fellow who
is going into the boss's office, knowing
that he is likely to be downsized (let
go); or a young teenager is meeting
some of the kids at her new school,
after moving away from the neighborhood
where she had lived since birth; or a
woman standing in the doctor's office
as he shows her the results of her scan,
which do not show good news.

And, in every one of those scenes, the
boss or the school kids or the doctor
glances past the person and says,
"who are they?" as the camera pans to
show Sunday school teachers, deacons,
pastors, family members, strangers -
and the person just smiles and says,
"Oh, that's just my network. They're
with me wherever I go and whatever
I go through."

Don't you wish that it was the church
that was showing such ads on TV?

Sadly, we still seem to be at the stage of
"Can you hear me now?"

(c) 2007 Thom M. Shuman