V Is For .............

Google changed my life and my teaching. Now, I use BING.com as a search site to find out if my striped tie will go with my checked shirt. My first love in the search engine realm remains Google. The following story, from April 10, 2007, explores the roots of my love!

What did we do before Google? When I wrote my book several years ago, I was not computer savvy. Besides writing out the text in ink on legal pads, I had to spend considerable time at the nearby public library looking up quotes and finding information. Not anymore! With a click of a mouse, the world is at my disposal...and everyone's disposal. To sell my book, I have a website, www.hawleybooks.com. There is a link in conjunction with my site that I check every morning. This site gives me the details and statistics of who is visiting and hopefully purchasing a copy of this undiscovered best seller. For example, it told me when I got out of bed that there were seventy-nine hits yesterday. It also breaks down the hours of the day which are the busiest and what pages are opened the most. I can compare this month to other months and find out where the interest is coming from. One section is the most intriguing to me; Search Keyphrases (Top 10). This listing details words typed into search engines, like Google and Yahoo!, which lead to people going to my website. Most are what you would expect: my name, the name of my book, the name of my school, Honduras (where I go on yearly mission trips), etc. The latest phrase which led to my website door, though, baffles me.Valium.The prescription drug, at first prescribed to treat epilepsy but more commonly recognized as a relaxation medication, apparently has something in common with my website. I can't fathom what it is. The word is not mentioned on the site or even in the book. There is scant passing mention in the book of drugs, period. But somehow, there is a connection between Valium and Steve Hawley. I may need some help here.

Too bad they didn't have Google back in Jesus' day. He accused the religious leaders of combing the word of God to find out about the Messiah but were blindly overlooking the truth:
"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about me;" John 5:39 (NASB)
The revealed word of God was readily available to them. Maybe with a search engine, they could have focused their hunt more effectively. What were they associating the Messiah with? Certainly not what was right in front of their eyes. I got linked with Valium by the Internet, a most inaccurate connection in my drug-free book. Jesus was linked to sinners, a designation he happily accepted but which would lead men to search in another direction. Sinners and saviors don't go together. Neither do basketball coaches and Valium...... at least in this case.


Applicable quote of the day:
"Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant."
Mitchell Kapor

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
http://www.hawleybooks.com/
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com