The Ultimate Social Network

Truly it is a small world in which we live and it seems to be getting smaller every year.

Just yesterday an e-mail came in. An individual had Googled one of Miami Edison Senior High School’s most popular teachers, Uncle Jimmy Hudson. Uncle Jimmy was my homeroom teacher and an individual that I have mentioned on occasion in my blogs. This individual’s search eventually connected him to me.

We shared a couple of e-mails. He too was in Uncle Jimmy’s homeroom. We had just missed each other. He graduated in June and I came to Edison that September. But, wait, there is more! He lived just down the road from my church in Tampa when I was the pastor there. He presently lives in Pasco County not very far from a UM church that a young pastor from my Tampa church had founded … but, here is the clincher, his brother was the student body chaplain during my senior year. His brother and I had several classes together over the three years of high school. It is a small world.

In the days of Jesus’ time on earth the world seemed a lot smaller. In fact, if you start linking the disciples to each other (which I have done in a teaching situation about friendship evangelism) they all knew each other prior to dropping whatever they were doing to follow Jesus. They all knew each other except Judas. He was the only disciple that was not connected through life’s circumstances to the others.

The lesson here is that we are all connected. Like the 6-degrees of separation which links everyone to everybody else regardless of who the other individual might be … we are connected and if connected then we have the possibility of influence. We can and do influence others. The question is this … will we bring them to Jesus? Like the disciples who knew each other and ultimately brought each other to the point of following Jesus so can we.

Take an inventory of the people you are already connected to. Take note if they are participating in the life of a church – participating is the key – not just a member somewhere. Membership doesn’t count for much. Participating, involved, actively working on their relationship with Christ through a body of believers is the determining factor.

Have you ever wondered why God placed you where you are presently living, connected to the individuals that you are presently connected to? God has a purpose. Nothing is by chance. As the old song goes: “You bring the one next to you and I will bring the one next to me and before too long we will have them all …”

And we will … if we pay attention to the connection … because we live in a very small world!

There was a reason that I was placed in Uncle Jimmy’s homeroom – 3-years of influence, 3-years of a quite caring witness, 3-years of his smiling loving face, 3-years that changed my life because of his Christian witness, 3-years of his friendship evangelism … 3-years. Was I the only one so influenced? I would greatly doubt that because God doesn’t place such an individual of greatness in a school classroom without using him year after year after year to win the more. It is a small world, by God’s design. Talk about a social network … if the world only knew, but hey, that’s why God placed us within the context of the network so that they WOULD know!

Quote for today: It is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms, just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction. ~Christian Theology in Plain Language