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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Y2K

It just dawned on me that this year’s New Years celebrations were exactly ten years after the turn of the millennium. I won’t easily forget the infamous Y2K (Year Two Thousand). The problem arose with the practice of using two digit dates rather than the proper four digits. At the time, it was supposed that rolling over from 99 to 00 would virtually bring the computer world and as a result, our world, to a screeching halt. Much work was done by information technology departments on a global scale in order to prevent power black outs, banking disasters and the like. Many individuals and companies simply bought new computers. We will never know if the extensive preparations cured the forecast problems or if the whole Y2K scenario was vastly overstated in the first place.

I remember spending New Year’s Eve as a new Director of Education with my cell phone on and at the ready for the worst. Custodians were on duty in all forty-two schools of the district school board to make sure that the hydro and heat stayed functional after midnight. A handful of generators were purchased to be used in the event of power outages. The Manager of Plant and his regional employees were on duty for the whole night. Nothing happened. Nothing, that is, with the exception of one of the most spiritual experiences of my young Christian life.

Lozanne and I were invited with twenty or thirty others to a Y2K house party. There were many Y2K parties that New Years Eve, but few of them, I suspect were like this one. This party welcomed the New Year with about forty minutes of prayer which started exactly at midnight. We prayed for the new millennium. Most of the prayers were not about the much discussed Y2K problems, but about spiritual blessings hoped for in the new millennium. I had only been a Christian for a few years and I was much taken by the idea. It was a beautiful time. It also caused me to think then and now of the words of Jesus in Matthew 18: 20.

20 "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

I am aware of the scholarly view that this verse refers to the reconciliation of Christians separated from the church by sin. I am also aware that it can be applied to any meeting of believers at any time and at any place. There we were at a Y2K party gathered in His name and there He was in the midst of us. I have been to many New Years Eve parties over the decades. This party was the most memorable and indeed the most fun. What a guest list!

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