Saturday, October 9, 2010

Some things you cant do without!

What are some things you couldnt live your life without? I mean if you were going on a 2 year trip and and could only take 5 things with you, what would they be? In the physical sense, you might say tooth brush, underwear, ipod, blanket and a car. Maybe you would want to take your favorite candy, or cell phone, or what about pictures of loved ones or a shirt that you love to wear 5 times a week. Whatever the items are that you choose, they will no doubt be important to you and things that make you feel like you can make the 2 year trip without a problem. In the spiritual sense you might choose different things such as your bible, prayer, devotional book, worship, and your favorite worship music. Some of those things arent really a choice, because God has given us some of these tools to make our life better. Prayer being one of those things, that as a Christ follower we cant do without. There is one cheesy line but its actually true..."7 days without prayer makes one weak!" When we neglect to talk to God and worship Him by praying and spending time with Him, it doesnt fail to change Gods plan or mind, but it does cause us to be less like Jesus and rely much more on our on strength. So the next time you think you can make it on your own, or imagine what it is that you would choose on a dessert island, remember that some things you cant do without, and by choosing wisely, you can and will become stronger in your faith and thrive even in rough times!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Class Reunion vs Facebook!

I received an email back in the spring about an upcoming class reunion for my old high school class. Being the people person that I am, I was excited. Just to see how everybody had changed in 10 short years and finding out what they were doing in life. How many kids they have and if they married their high school sweetheart. I also thought that everybody in my class would share the same sentiment, but this was not the case. I started to ask around to see who was planning on going, and most had the attitude of "who cares...I am not paying $25 to go back and see people I didn't like in the first place, besides I already keep up with the ones I do like on facebook." This brought several questions to my mind, but the number one conundrum was, "Has facebook killed face to face contact?" In an age of technology, there is no doubt that such networking sites as Twitter and FB are very important! I use both on a daily basis to keep in touch with people, communicate vision and even keep track of some church family that are sick or hurting that might need a visit or call. The problem that presents itself is when we would rather drop an email or tweet a message than talk face to face. In fact, sometimes this is how we treat our time of worship with the Lord. We would rather give God just a few minutes rather than spend time listening to Him. God doesn't want us to check into worship on Sunday morning or our quiet time through the week with a mere status update and then sign off. He knows our entire history and the reality is, that he wrote our profile himself and knows our very heart and intentions. For me it is so hard to find time to spend just seeking Him and letting Him speak to me, but its a must if I want to be the best husband, friend or pastor that I can be. Speaking on a social level, even our friends deserve more than just a quick post on their page, they deserve a phone call and even a face to face conversation, if for nothing else, at least to encourage them and build them up. Even though our class reunion has been postponed (due to lack of registrations) I still hope to catch up with some of my old friends soon, and see whats going on and maybe even encourage a couple of them!