“Hey Google”

This year (2018) the Christmas magi left a Google Home and a Google Mini under our tree. I’d been interested in these devices, and now I have them.

In case you don’t already know, the Google Home is about the size of an extra-large glass of iced tea (quart jar). The slanting top has four lights that light up when it’s talking, a circle of lights to set its volume, and it is touch sensitive to turn it on and off. It needs to be plugged in all the time. Its two-tone grey and blends in with almost any setting and we don’t really see it sitting on our kitchen counter. However, its casual appearance betrays its inner abilities.

The Google Mini comes in several colors and ours is charcoal and it blends in with most settings. It’s about four inches in diameter and 1.5 inches thick, but it’s hockey-puck-size does not give a hint about the sound and information it contains. I have this unit on my office desk and as I type it is quietly playing some Chet Atkins background music, and the volume is set by speaking to it or touching one side or the other.

The units are controlled through the Google Home app on my phone that I downloaded from the Google play store. After the units were plugged in, I followed the instructions linking them to the internet and identifying the Google Home was in the kitchen and the Google Mini was in my office.

When they came to life, I discovered the world was hidden in those small units and they eagerly shared their information by a simple, “Hey Google…”.

They can read audiobooks and allow me to skip chapters, go back three minutes and so on. They can also set routines for the day which contain multiple features. For example, “Hey Google, good morning” gets me the weather, my day’s schedule and reminders, the news from three top stations, the sports news, and more.

I’ve discovered these little fixtures are brilliant. I can ask for recipes, sports info, how to translate phrases, get definitions, how to spell words, nutrition info, info on the stock market or specific stocks, make calculations (3.5*9.27), get unit conversions (dollars to pesos, inches to centimeters, and such), the weather anywhere in the world, play games, and on and on and on.

They can also remember things, for example, they will 1-set alarms, 2-set timers, and 3-remind me to do things, and 4-remember where I place my keys, passport, or whatever (after I told it where I’ve placed those valuable items). They will also help find my phone, give travel information, and send directions to my phone.

I can ask it to play music of my choice (Chet Atkins, Herb Alpert, Post Malone, or whatever), it will play NPR radio (or any radio station) or podcasts, and on and on. To change the volume I say, “Hey Google, turn it down (or up).”

It is so handy that I ordered four controllable electrical sockets and now it turns the lights on and off by voice, it could do the same for coffee to have it ready in the morning (but I don’t drink coffee and Phyllis only drinks freeze dried).

They are handy around the house but when we explain their use to our non-Google Home friends, their eyes glaze over and I smile, inside, because I can’t explain it to them.

Trying to explain the benefits of the Google Home reminds of trying to explain to the benefits of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The problems of understanding are similar. If they could only experience the convenience and enjoyment of a Google Home, then they would know. The same is true of being a Christian. If they only knew how trusting Jesus’ good faith offer changes our lives for the better. His love takes away the bitterness, sorrow, hurt, depression, loneliness, guilt, anxiety, and so much more. He replaces all of that with joy unspeakable (it’s hard to explain if you’ve never experienced it). To top off the Jesus experience, we are forgiven and have the privilege of living in God’s presence forever!

Google Home and Jesus’ good faith offer, they are similar — they can’t fully be explained, they must be experienced.