I’ve said it before, but there are times when I still find it amazing:  we live in the future.  Last night, as I was checking out what my friends have been up to (via Facebook) I saw a message from a close childhood friend, asking for help.  Her 3 year old daughter had been in the hospital for 5 days with an extremely high fever.  They weren’t getting the progress or the answers they needed, so she wanted to know if anyone she knew happened to be, or could recommend, an infectious disease expert.  I’m not, and I can’t, but I did what I *could* do — I reposted the request on my Facebook wall.

Within minutes, several of my friends reposted the request (including people I haven’t spoken to in person in years as well as at least one person who I’ve never actually met) and several others responded with information and suggestions.  The posts that my friends made resulted in some very helpful responses from *their* friends, some directly to my friend who needed help, resulting in a very cool instantaneous network pooling the resources of dozens of people for the benefit of one 3 year old girl, who most of these people will never meet.  All of this, which equalled many prayers and at least 4 concrete leads for my friend to follow up on, happened in just over an hour, and didn’t require more than a few minutes of any one person’s time.  This pattern was repeated by many friends who read my friend’s initial request, and I’m sure it created a wealth of new information and ideas for her to draw upon.

I think that is fantastic, and I think it is an amazing glimpse into the power of good that can come from being able to call upon the many wonderful relationships we have in the real world by using the simple, immediate connections provided to us by technology.  God willing, it will help my friend get some answers for her daughter.