Friends are more than Internet connections and text messages

I recently read a review for a set of ear buds. For those of us who have not caught up to the way the iPod is constantly changing culture, "ear buds" are what we used to call earphones. This product used foam designed to protect your ears from high decibels, allowing the ear buds to create a zone that eliminated background conversations and other noise intruding on the playlist.

This product, while cool, reminded me of how much we live in a culture of connected isolation. Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace provide many with the ability to have thousands of contacts but virtually no connection.

It seems that the frequency and abundance of our ability to connect via cell phones, text messaging and e-mail has left many of us fragmented, fractured and disconnected. The increasing sinkholes of cultural isolation are creating rifts in abilities to relate and develop healthy relationships. Sociologists are concerned that our increasingly cultural isolation may even be a strong contributor to the rise of depression in our nation.

I am convinced men and women were created for more than keeping up with what is cool. We were fashioned for friendship and family. Proverbs 17:17 reads, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."

We need love. Social networking sites give an illusion of instant love without the complications of constructing and relationship. "Will you be my friend?" is an instant yes or no in which either answer carries no loss or gain. The consistent love that can be found in a friend is an irreplaceable foundation of support, challenging us and encouraging us to stretch beyond where we are comfortable.

Another layer in the onion of this proverb is that adversity is coming. We will each face challenges, disappointments and great tragedy. Yet we have been created to surround ourselves with others to help face adversity. A brother or sister is a relationship that is there to see you through adversity. They are relationships that provide a simple touch to reduce anxiety and stress.

Our lives are more than our profiles. Our lives are more complex than our activities. Broadcast yourself into someone else's flesh-and-blood life and you'll find the return so much greater than 30 seconds of Internet fame.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father and serves as the associate pastor at the First Baptist Church in Jackson.