We live in an amazing time. One can pick up a device and within seconds connect with someone living half way around the world via text, images or sound. Back in the last half of the last century of the second millennium, the more typical scenario was for someone to send a letter which would arrive in a few days or weeks, unless sent to a really backwards area and then it might take months or never show up. My in-laws sent a telegram before leaving the US to go on the mission field. Arriving at the airport they found no one waiting for them. The telegram arrived days after they did. Telephone service was “iffy” at best clear up to the final decade of the century. When our youngest son was born we called my wife’s parents to let them know. To do so we had to go to a neighbor’s house and borrow their phone. We tried three times and never heard a word from my in-laws. But we DID get the bill. About $10 US equivalent PER CALL – that never went through. So today when we can use VOIP (voice over internet protocol) to chat with friends and family “in real time”, we are truly blessed. Using WhatsApp has been a real boost to keeping in touch with my siblings. Email is checked multiple times a day.
