Google has changed everything. My coffee tastes different, the jet stream flows in a different direction. Everything has changed because information is at our fingertips. We can search for (and find) coffee shops that only serve organic, fair-trade coffee, gluten-free muffins, and soy milk for the lactose intolerant. Not only will Google help you find it, it will help you get there as well.
But Google was not the first search engine. Before Google, I used search engines called Webcrawler, Lycos, or AltaVista. You just earned an extra star at Starbucks if you used one of those, too.
The first search engines simply “crawled” the internet, indexing sites by keywords and titles. When you searched for a term, the search engine returned a list of matching sites. It was a basic form of search and the list may or may not have contained relevant sites.
Google changed everything. Using algorithims, IP addresses, and other technical hocus pocus, Google serves up results that dig deep into the bowels (sorry) of the internet to return a list of sites. It’s amazingly effective. Type a few words, click a button, and a world of information awaits you. There’s a good chance you will find what you are looking for.
But before Google, there was God — the original search engine.
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
The eyes of God are searching the earth. He doesn’t need the internet or Google. But he does have a list of keywords he is looking for:
fully … committed … hearts
He’s not looking in a special corner or a favored nation. He’s not looking for a specific gender or ethnicity. No heigth requirements.
He’s looking for people who will trust in him, completely, and whole-heartedly.
What will he find?