Olive Tree, Google Translate, Kid President, and Coffee, aka., "The Wonderful Possibilities of the Internet" - [T3]

Let me start this post by telling you about a portion of my morning routine.

I normally roll out of bed about 6:30 am, whether there is an alarm set or not. As I quietly leave the bedroom, I grab my iPhone, and stumble down the hallway to the coffee pot. I have a Bunn, so I pour the water in the top, and wait the three minutes for the coffee to brew. While I’m waiting, I rub the sleep out of my eyes and check my email.

This morning I was very surprised to see about a dozen new subscriptions to my YouTube channel, a new comment on a video, and an email from someone who I have never met asking me for help with their Olive Tree Bible Study app.

Then I made the connection.

I scrolled through my email to find that the folks at Olive Tree Bible Study Apps had sent out one of their weekly email newsletters, and near the bottom was a link to a video I made about a year ago, detailing how you can use multitouch gestures to navigate the iOS version of the app (sorry non-iOS users). They were also kind enough to feature that same video on their blog last week. The video has received three times the views in the last week as it had over the last year. It’s also helped give some extra exposure to my blog.

As an aside, had I known it would be used like it has I would have taken the time to dust off my desk, and clear some things out of the background. It’s a lesson in why you should ALWAYS do your BEST work - because you don’t know how long it will live, or who might resurrect it, and when. See Ecclesiastes 9:10 for some Biblical thought along those lines.

I've noticed some extra traffic over the last week or so, from varying sources, with some cool little tidbits I’d like to share.

• Just yesterday I had six views which listed Google Translate as the referrer. That means someone was taking the time to read a Google translated version of my blog in their native tongue. That’s kinda cool, because it means I was helping teach  someone in a language I can’t speak.
• I can remember the days when I would think it was awesome that I had fifty views on the day that I published a post. I would usually have zero or two the next day. Yesterday I had 110, and I haven’t posted in nearly a week. It’s taken years to get to that point; to build a body of work big enough that it keeps drawing people to the site through search engines, and other avenues. So don’t give up your own blogging. I’m probably never going to have a high traffic site, but I appreciate the readers who have stayed with me over the past few years.
• I love getting blog comments like the one I got on Sunday. I had a preacher brother (who I’ve never met, but hey, I feel a camaraderie with any brother who stands in the pulpit) comment that he had used part of my blog post in his sermon. It’s very encouraging to know a) I actually provided something helpful, and b) What I took the time to write is making it out there to help people. That’s what I want. It lets me know I’m not wasting my time.
• This is not about my traffic, but Kid President is awesome. His rise to the White House was unlikely. But it all happened because of social media, and creative minds who used it to do something awesome. It makes me happy to see good people succeed. Let’s have one more “awesome” for good measure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TssZ9Uma1-w

Let me give you the point of this rambling post. God has given us a mission - to go into all the world and preach the Gospel (Mark 16:15). There are probably at least 7 billion people on this planet right now. 107 of them die every minute. But generally speaking, more are being born than are dying.

So how do we reach them? Did God give us an impossible task?

I don’t think so. Reread the meat of this blog post if you have to. Then take ten minutes and think. Consider the power for good that God has given us in the technological tools we have. Then stop playing around, and start using them for that mission.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV)

- Daniel