Train Up a Child: Social MediaNäide

You can read the devotion out loud as a family, giving two people a part to read. Or have one person read it out loud. Have fun with the voices and characters, and if you're up for it, you can even act out the script!

God and Google

Timmy sits at the table with a notepad and a pen. He looks frustrated. With each question he asks Google, he gets louder.

Timmy: Hey Google, how big is God?

Google: Religion can be complicated but let’s learn about it together on the internet.

Timmy: I don’t want to learn with you, I want you to just tell me. Hey Google, how do I get to know God?

Google: I’m sorry, I don’t understand.

Janet walks into the room but Timmy doesn’t see her.

Timmy: OK Google, how do I tell someone about God’s love?

Google: I’m not programmed to answer that.

Timmy: Hey Google, how do I learn to hear God’s voice?

Google: I’m sorry, I don’t understand.

Janet: Hey Timmy, what’s up?

Timmy: I’m trying to do my Sunday School assignment.

Janet: They’re assigning homework at Sunday School? That’s bold.

Timmy: It’s not homework, it’s an activity. But Google doesn’t know anything about God.

Janet: That, my boy, is an understatement.

Timmy: Hey Google, what’s an “understatement”?

Google: Here’s the definition of understatement. An understatement is the presentation of something as smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

Janet: Why are you asking Google these questions?

Timmy: Well, we ask Google about everything else. Remember last night how Google ended your argument with dad?

Janet: That wasn’t an argument.

Timmy: Dad was sure that platypus babies don’t hatch out of eggs and you knew he was wrong.

Janet: Well, I can’t argue with that.

Timmy: Google usually has the answer to everything.

Janet: It has a lot of facts. It’s like a really cool encyclopedia or dictionary, but sweetheart, you need to go somewhere else to find the answers your looking for.

Janet points up at the ceiling.

Timmy: Upstairs?

Janet points higher.

Timmy: Out…side?

Janet: To God!

Timmy: But some of my questions are about how to even hear from God. How can I ask Him if I don’t know how to hear from Him in the first place?

Janet: That’s the amazing part. He really does hear, and God himself teaches you.

Timmy: How?

Janet: Because He’s real. He loves you and He’s just waiting for you to ask.

Timmy: But how do I learn to listen? How do I know what I’m hearing is right and isn’t…

Janet: Isn’t what?

Timmy: Fake news, or disinformation?

Janet: Well, that’s why you have a community around you — family, church, your Sunday School teacher. And that’s why the Bible is such a gift. It’s the book God gave us to teach us about Himself. And with the Holy Spirit to guide us, we learn.

Timmy: How long does it take?

Janet: A lifetime.

Timmy: What?!

Janet: And forever after that. That’s part of the mystery. God is so big and vast, there will always be more to learn about Him.

Timmy: How am I gonna finish this assignment then?

Janet: I think you’re well on the way.

Timmy: Doesn’t feel like it. How do you talk to God, mom?

Janet: In a lot of ways. But you know when you see me with my coffee in the morning writing in my journal and reading my Bible?

Timmy: Yeah.

Janet: That’s the main way for me. I learn about God, listen to Him and pray.

Timmy: I think I’d like to try that, but…I don’t have a journal.

Janet pulls her phone out of pocket.

Timmy: What are you doing?

Janet: Googling for the address to that new ice cream store.

Timmy: Why?

Janet: It’s on the way to the bookstore where we’re going to get you a journal.

Timmy: Really?

Janet: Really! Did you know buying ice cream is one way to praise God?

Timmy: I’m not even going to ask Google if that’s biblically accurate.

Janet: Good. Let’s go!