June 30, 1999
DOWN HOME:
The kid's only a mouse click,
& continent, away
___Punch a button, and up pops Lindsay. Well, it's not that easy, but almost.
___Lindsay, our 15-year-old, and I have been separated for almost two weeks. You see, June is Baptist convention season, and I headed east to Atlanta and Birmingham to attend meetings, meetings and more meetings. After I'd been gone for a week, Joanna and Molly, our 13-year-old, joined me.
___Meanwhile, Lindsay boarded a bus and headed to the West Coast. That's because Junealso is Baptist choir tour/mission trip season.
MARV KNOX
Editor
___So, we've been a continent apart for going on two weeks. Might as well be on different planets. I miss the sound of her laughter over the dinner table, her goodnight hugs and kisses, and even her shoes lying on the den floor (but don't tell her that).
___Fortunately, however, our separation hasn't been complete. This year, we've stayed connected to our church's youth choir/mission tour through a miracle of modern technology. It's on the Internet.
___Every day or so, somebody plugs a computer into a phone line and sends a report of what the kids and their sponsors have been up to in far California. And every day or so (all right several times a day), this mom and dad log on to see what's up.
___In the olden days, back when I was a kid, this wasn't possible. Parents took their teenagers down to the church house, loaded them onto buses or vans, waved goodbye and figured they'd see them when they see them.
___So you can imagine our delight the morning we clicked on "pictures" and saw Lindsay singing with the others in a church in Moriarity, N.M. A couple of days later, we punched a button, there she was again, handing out supplies in a backyard Bible club in Los Angeles. And there she was, no more than a speck (but parents recognize their kids, even when they're as small as a speck) at some LA tourist trap.
___Internet access to Lindsay's trip west isn't as good as the sound of her laughter and the warmth of her hugs, but we sure got a kick out of seeing our young 'un out on the "foreign" (California seems foreign if you're from Texas) mission field.
___This long-distance tracking system, of course, isn't exactly new. Wherever we've gone for as long as we've been going, our Heavenly Father has been able to keep up with our whereabouts. He "sees and knows all the paths we have trod."
___Some people can't stand that. They'd just as soon not have God looking over their shoulders, watching their every move.
___Not me. Sure, I've done plenty of things I wish the Lord didn't know about. But I've always found peace in knowing he's there watching over me.
___After all, God loves me even more than I love Lindsay.
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