At&t or Cingular: Whose am I

me: They must be kidding.

Seven years ago I signed on with At&t wireless for a $30 per month cell phone. Our home area allowed no-roaming charges (a dark age term for some) in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. We only had 80 minutes per month, yet we had unlimited nights and weekends starting at 8 p.m.

you: Get to the point? Why am I reading this?

me: You are bored. This is a silly story. There might be a point, which is why you are still reading.

I signed on with At&t. Then, more than a year ago, Cingular ate At&t for lunch. I became a Cingular customer almost overnight. I had no vote. But I now was a "grandfather," being grandfathered into Cingular. Same plan. Same rate. Same sorry minute totals. But now seven years later, new name.

you: Okay, I am not seeing a point on the horizon. I like Verizon.

me: Three months ago Cingular sent me a letter explaining that they would soon be eliminating my network. They were phasing out At&t. Beginning that very month I would be charged an additional fee every month (I guess for being a grandfatherly drain on the largest Cell company in the business). I needed to upgrade to the new network, upgrade phones, change my rate plan, and who knows what else.

you: So what? Verizon has a nice name, too.

me: So, I migrated to a new plan, new phone, and a new higher rate plan. I was no longer an At&t grandfather in a network about to die. I was taken from the cellular nursing home and reborn as a Cingular child.

Which brings me to the news I read the news this week. Cingular is changing its name to At&t - the ALL NEW At&t. All that clever Cingular marketing, all that careful orange and blue branding with the little asterisk man . . . it will soon all be gone. I am again a grandfather so soon after being reborn.

you: [me: you've already stopped reading so I will have to ask your question for you] So what?

me: It is easy to feel passed around. I am used by companies who want my money. I am used by churches who want to count me in their numbers. I am used by marketers who want to reach me. I am an account number. I have no say in these things. I am an object. I am a "consumer."

Regardless of who is my cell phone carrier, where my parents are, or what I own, I am someone loved by an eternal God. You are someone loved by the God who made you. The God who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow gives you a name "child of God." Talk to God.