Need Surfing

Web surfing and channel surfing may be more common, but that’s not the only surfing taking place.

Surfing. Riding the crest and face of waves in an attempt to reach shore. Surfboard. An elongated board or platform used by surfers.  

With the dawn of readily available internet, satellite radio and satellite television, surfing took on new meaning. Now surfing means hopping from one website or station to another; for fun or until what’s looked for is found. 

My profession as a speaker and writer requires internet surfing. And it’s wonderful to have the world’s information at my fingertips. I plug in a few key words and immediately have multiple websites to assist me with ideas I’m working on. I can’t imagine returning to previous methods of gathering information.

Though information is readily available, I still must search for and act on it. The same is true with needs. Ezekiel reflects on what happens when we don’t: So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. (Ezekiel 34:5-6) Needs abounded, but no one cared.

I don’t have to surf the internet or television to find needs. I can go to church, visit retail stores, take mission trips, talk to local officials or call any number of charitable organizations and immediately be overwhelmed by them. The question is what can or will I do.

What I can do is limited by time and funds. What I will do is governed by attitude. Do I truly care? Am I capable? Am I responsible? Am I available? Soul searching questions I don’t always enjoy answering. God meets our needs, and we can do no less when he gives us the privilege of helping others.

Prayer: Merciful Father, open our eyes to needs around us and open our hands to help.

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