On the morning of April 1st, I logged on to Google Analytics. If you’re not a blogger, this is something you can hook up to your blog that tracks blog information. Big time bloggers, and those who monetize their blogs, use it to track their numbers, but for the small-timer, hobby-bloggers like me, it’s just interesting. Anyway, when I logged on that morning, it said that, at that exact moment (they have a real-time feature) there were 41 people reading my blog from the International Space Station! Naturally, I was stunned. When I clicked to see what page they were reading (curious minds want to know), it showed the page as “April Fools!” Ha! Seems the geeky folk at Google were having some fun that day. I loved it!

My favorite part of all the stats are where people are reading from. They may not actually be reading from the International Space Station, but I have had people reading from Spain, Indonesia, France, Australia, UK, India, Netherlands, and on from there. That is incredibly humbling for me. I sit on my sofa in my living room in Texas (or in this case, in the rocker of my grandson’s room) and type out whatever God plops in my head for the day, thinking that a few of my Facebook and Twitter friends, and always my mom, are the only ones who will be reading it. Then Google tells me that some person around the world from me, sits in their living room and reads today’s post, and maybe something that I wrote three years ago. That’s God right there, folks. God in technology, working through His people to reach His people. God taking every opportunity available to say…

I love you. Don’t you forget it, and if you didn’t know it, now you do!

You just never know who’s reading. And I’m not just talking about words here. Even if we’re not writers, people are reading our every move. They’re examining our every word. They’re sizing us up and figuring out what we’re all about. Do our actions match the words our lives are writing? Would they scream that we are God-lovers even if we were mute?

I think my friends in other countries would say that I am indeed a God-lover from my written word, but I sure hope my friends who talk to and see me all the time, and even watch me when I don’t realize they’re looking, would say the same about me. Again, it’s humbling to think about.

So, today I’m thankful for a playful reminder from the jokesters at Google. People may not be actually reading me while orbiting in space, but it’s absolutely true that people are reading all of us from just about anywhere else.

“Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.” 1 Peter 2:12 NLT

“God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now…” 2 Corinthians 5:20 MSG

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 MSG