In the wake of the 2013 NSA data spying controversy, The Wall Street Journal ran an article titled "Phones Leave a Telltale Trail." The authors note that everyone who owns a cell phone creates "metadata" that leaves a "digital trail." While each individual crumb of data might seem insignificant, when it's combined and analyzed, it provides "one of the most powerful investigative tools ever devised." By tracing our metadata, investigators can pinpoint where we were or where we are at this moment.

Here's an example from an imaginary smartphone user named "Geoff":

1. Geoff poses by a waterfall and snaps a self-portrait, which he immediately tweets, then emails to his grandmother.
2. Geoff's text, photo, and email ascend a series of remote servers, each dragging their own trails of metadata.
3. Once there, the metadata may be extracted and interpreted by any interested party with access.
4. Thanks to the above "digital trail," without ever having met Geoff, we know he was at Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls, Idaho, at 3:57 P.M. on April 22nd, that he has a certain brand of smartphone, and that he speaks English.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) God, omniscience; God's omnipresence—God knows exactly where we are, where we've been, and what we've been doing—and yet he is a Father who loves us. (2) Integrity; Secrets—We are always leaving a "spiritual trail" behind us. Nothing is truly hidden or secret in our lives.