Online… now there’s a word built just for the internet. Do you ever wonder what people said to each other when everyone started getting telephones? Did they say are you on the wire? Probably not. But now everyone wants to know if you’re “online.” I’m obviously online or I wouldn’t be here.

I’ve been online since the late 80’s. My husband was trying to help me start a business. He saw that with my typing and word processing skills, I could save a bundle in advertising costs if I could make my own flyers and business cards, so he bought me a computer. I was all excited about my 40 meg hard drive! Now that space will barely run one program sometimes.

We can do almost anything online that we can do offline. Have you noticed? Okay, you can’t quite scramble an egg online, but you can order breakfast, lunch or dinner and have it delivered. You can look up phone numbers. Most people I know don’t even have a phonebook in their home anymore. Need some information? Why bother with the library? Just Google! (Now there’s an idea for a t-shirt. You can order those online, too.)

People have entire relationships and never leave the computer. They advertise, meet, chat, share hours of conversation, personal information and history. Well, you can’t get a hug or a kiss online. Well, not exactly, but this is a hug {{{{{{ name of person being hugged }}}}}} And remember the old XOXOXO from your high school note writing days? They’re online, too. Heck, people can even turn on their webcams and see real time virtual pictures of each other. And we know what they do with those! Online.

Need a prayer group? Find one online. Silent Unity, one of the world’s most famous prayer lists for decades has an online sign up. You just write out a note and what you or your friends and family need prayers for and send it off. Within minutes, someone is praying for you. I actually like that online application a lot. Try it at http://www.unityonline.org/pray_main.htm

Pretty soon we won’t need bodies at all. We’ll evolve into a species with nothing but fingers and brains. Maybe some way to take in sustenance online. What do you think they’ll call us? Online sapiens!