Feeling the Impact

(Leia este post em português.)

Bad news travels fast.

Practically the moment the east coast felt the impact of yesterday’s earthquake (08/23/2011), others were reading about it, and not necessarily from the news sources. Amidst the normal things people do in these situations—find cover, look for family members, panic—many found the time to update their Facebook and Twitter accounts to give the rest of the world an up-to-the-second account of what was going on.

These days, any news travels fast. From the important to the very, very mundane, millions of people have added to their routine the concept of announcing from the virtual rooftops anything and everything that is going on. It reminds me of this strip from one of my favorite comics, Calvin and Hobbes, in which Calvin announces his activities loudly as he walks through the house.

Sound familiar?

But going back to the earthquake…

I was in an earthquake once, back in ’95, when I was visiting friends in Costa Rica. I don’t remember what it scored on the Richter scale, but it was a substantial quake. Damage was minimal, but it was what everyone was talking about that night at church. Even when we are bombarded by the mundane all day long, when something BIG happens, we want people to know. Good or bad, we share it, and if we hear of something BIG, we pass it along. Twitter is just a digital voice to what humans have done for centuries.

So the question is: of all the things that have ever happened to you, that are happening to you, and will ever happen to you, is there anything BIGGER than the impact God has in your life? Is there anything WORSE than our sinful condition, anything GREATER than His love, anything MORE AMAZING than Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf?

If you have felt the impact of knowing and being known by the Maker of the Universe through a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, is anything else more newsworthy?

Bad news travels fast.

The Good News needs to travel faster.