Wave of the Future

In 1949 Popular Mechanics magazine stated that "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." In 1977 Kenneth Olsen, president and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., said, "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home." Today, there are probably over 300 million personal computers in use in the United States. You are using one of them right now.

Twenty years ago, who would have imagined the impact of personal computers, the Internet, cell phones, and wireless networks on our lives? We sometimes complain about them, but that is when they don't work as well as we have become accustomed to them working!

There is a saying, "What seems like only a ripple today can become the wave of the future." As we approach the start of a new year, this causes me to ask, "What new thing will impact our lives in the future in ways that we least expect?" What machine, process, or movement in its infancy today will change significantly the way that we think, act, and live?

As a believer, I tend to think that the Holy Spirit is doing some things in the church today that are peripheral to most of us, but things that will have significant impact in coming days. What do you think? Do you detect something happening that has the potential for this kind of impact? How will it change the way that we relate to each other? To God? To the world?

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