Beatles. The comparison comes from looking at the number of monthly searches for names, titles, and subjects through the on-line search engine, "Google."

The search engine processes over 150 million searches a day and can now make relative comparisons among popular topics. According to figures released in early April 2002, "Jesus" receives 850,000 searches every month while "The Beatles" receive 830,000. The number of searches on particular topics offers a peek into the minds of people today. While Jesus receives 850,000 searches, pop music icons Jennifer Lopez, and Britney Spears receive more. J-Lo gets 1,135,000 searches, and Spear's name receives 2.5 million each month. "God" receives fewer searches that Britney, receiving a total of almost 1.3 million searches per month.

Though "Jesus" may not receive as much attention as other people or past-times, He makes a promise to those who seek him that cannot be matched.

—www.pressflex.com, Ogling Google: "Jesus" is bigger than "The Beatles", April

Luke 11:9-10. NIV "So I say to you: Ask and it will given to you; seek and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

The following interactive illustration is risky, but it can energize the children in the congregation and drive home what it means to seek God as a child. Before a recent service I taped an envelope with a five dollar bill enclosed under one of the pews. At the beginning of the service I announced what I had done and told the congregation that whoever found it could have it. I expected the children to react more enthusiastically than the adults and I was not disappointed.

They jumped up and down with excitement, looked everywhere, even crawled under the pews. The seven year old girl who found the envelope yelled out from under the pew, "I'VE GOT FIVE BUCKS!" The point to my sermon was already made by this little girl and the others in the audience. Everyone had already seen how a child seeks something of great value.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

The study of Internet search engines and how they are used may provide insight into the ways people ask questions and look for answers in life. Jason Hellmann works for a communications company in Washington DC. His job is to help optimize search engines by studying the ways they are used. In his spare time Hellmann maintains a website where he posts the strange prompts Web users have asked. He says you won’t find much interesting until you look beyond common search terms and examine long-tail terms.

On his site, Hellmann has posted crazy questions, like “magic spell to Shut Someone up,” and “can a horse have OCD?,” along with “hermit crab addiction,” or even, “I want to be not guilty because I have insanity.”

He says he started the site as a joke, but thinks his research provides insight into the questions people are asking. He says, “People have become reliant on search engines as the be-all, end-all place to search for information. Most people think a search engine will have the answer to any question they could possibly have—whether it’s personal, professional, or even spiritual.”

By the way, Hellmann says there is no personal identifying data attached to any of his searches, so feel free is ask anything you like.

--Strange Googling: The Things They Queried, http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/jason-hellmanns-seololnet-keeps-track-of-your-strangest-search-engine-prompts/19506851; June 8, 2010, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 (GW) “Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will hear you. (13) When you look for me, you will find me. When you wholeheartedly seek me,”

The entire British nation is looking for a woman named Samantha after her soldier boyfriend, evidently deployed in Afghanistan, left a phone message at the wrong number. According to reports, Diane Potts from the northern English city of Gateshead, and found the message on her answering machine. The young soldier said, “I love you so much, I love you with all my heart and I was going to ask you, don’t answer, obviously you can’t answer, but will you marry me?”Potts said the young man said he would be able to call back for another month, and would not be home for another three months.

Potts told reporters she could tell he was calling from a phone booth because the line was crackly. She said she had to listen twice before the message sunk in. The woman thinks Samantha’s number is probably similar to her own. Though the soldier dialed incorrectly, Potts hopes she can find the man’s girlfriend and give her the message she they can connect soon. Potts said she contacted the media to help get the word out. She added, We just really want to find her.”

--http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/26/soldiers-marriage-proposal-from-afghanistan-goes-to-wrong-number; January 26, 2011, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Matthew 18:12-14 (CEV) Let me ask you this. What would you do if you had a hundred sheep and one of them wandered off? Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go look for the one that had wandered away? (13) I am sure that finding it would make you happier than having the ninety-nine that never wandered off. (14) That's how it is with your Father in heaven. He doesn't want any of these little ones to be lost.