Social Networking - It’s not new. Even if the phrase is trendy, the concept is older than the human race. But, what IS continually new is the technology we use to do it. This blog is an example of social networking, but hardly compared to things like facebook, twitter and texting. And with the ongoing advent of extremely innovative and powerful technology, there is a growing problem, not unlike the problem we are seeing with the increased potency of various medications available today.
A new study out this past week indicates that American college students may be ‘addicted’ to instant connections. According to researchers at the University of Maryland, the words commonly associated with drug and alcohol addictions are the same words used by students to describe how they feel when they are forced to go without these connections for any length of time. They speak of withdrawal, craving, anxiety … and they say they get frantic, antsy, miserable, jittery and even crazy.
The researchers who did the study, asking students to go without the use of social media for one 24 hour period, concluded that most college students seem practically unable to function without these connections.
There is a question as to whether this is about the social media itself, or about relationships? I’m thinking more the latter. One student wrote afterward how, “texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort.”
The old saying goes, the more things change, the more they become the same. I can remember passing notes in class and being reprimanded on an ongoing basis, along with pretty much everyone else, for ‘talking’ in class. And since when is it new for teens to spend hours talking on the phone with their friends?
People haven’t changed but there is a huge warning in all of this. If we fail to control the technology, the technology will end up controlling us. As we are being enabled to connect more often with more people in more ways, we are going to need more self-control.
That’s not really that comforting at a time when self-control seems to be at a premium. However, we can’t just give in to this. We need to challenge ourselves and our children to know their boundaries, set limits and seek to live balanced lives. As great and as wonderful as ‘social networking’ is, there are times when we need to be free from it so that we can give our full attention to the task (or the person!) at hand.
And there are times when we really need to be alone too. This allows us quality time with God focusing completely on our relationship with Him, meditating on what His Word says to us. God has left us a very large and critically important text message and prayer is the most important connection we have.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Lessons From The Wood Pile
I was off on Tuesday so I decided after the rain let up to get a start on my wood pile. Although I get little time normally to do physical labour, and as a result am not in the best of shape for it, it still feels good, even though it hurts.
For one thing, it’s nice to be able to do something where you can actually see the ongoing progress of your effort and watch things come together. You can take a step back at anytime and, even though your back may ache a little, the satisfaction is there to soothe it. There’s nothing like that sense of accomplishment. Ah!
For a man, a good wood pile is a beautiful thing to behold. The last time my brother in law Doug was at our place he casually commented upon entering ‘nice wood pile’. Now, how many women do you know that would say that? Huh? And really mean it! It’s definitely a guy thing.
For the uninitiated, you need to realize that you don’t really pile fire wood anyway. You build a wood pile and it takes some skill to do it well. It is especially important to carefully select and skillfully place the pieces in the bottom section. I know it’s not rocket science. Anyone can tell you that the foundation of anything is always the most important part. However, with a wood pile you have the added factor that you are just going to tear the whole thing down in a couple of months anyway when it is time to put it in. So, you don’t want to spend inordinate amounts of time with it. But then again, the last thing you want is for the whole thing to blow over in a weeks time when the first good gust of wind hits it.
Working with firewood is not precision work. The shapes and sizes are awkward; never really symmetrical and no two pieces are the same. But then there’s that time factor again. And so it happens that as you build each rank there are times when you need to ‘sure it up’. Here comes the ‘technical’ part of it. Stay with me on this. It is at this point that you need to employ the use of some ‘stabilizers’. A ‘stabilizer’ is a specifically chosen piece inserted at a strategic location which serves to strengthen the entire rank. (No, you can’t buy them at the hardware store, you have to find them yourself by carefully searching through your wood pile.)
So as I’m working away on my wood pile (with the Bonanza theme music running through my head… where did that come from?) I’m thinking about life. And I find myself wondering, what are the ‘stabilizers’ that I need to have in place to prevent my life from becoming precarious? They may not be large because size is not the issue. Upon casual observance, they won’t even be noticeable to others. But what are those little things that we carefully choose and strategically place in our lives that give real stability to our living?
You’ll have to forgive me but this is just how my mind works and it never stops. I see a lesson in every rock, a precept in every task, a principle at work in every cranny of creation. So for what it’s worth here it is.
We can have all kinds of zeal and passion for life and all the energy to go with it, but if we are not consciously taking the time to carefully and continually insert key elements in strategic locations in the routine of our lives as we build from day to day, at some point the whole thing could just quite suddenly all fall over! In fact, isn’t this what we see happening every day all around us – people’s lives falling apart?
At this point (if you’re still reading!) you’re probably wondering what those elements are or should be. I hesitate to do that thinking for you, but for me they include things like these… being thankful… being accountable… being honest with my wife… regular Bible reading and prayer… doing things for others… being content … taking time to really listen…
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Meeting People Where They’re At
At one time in our society the search for truth reigned supreme. If you could show that something was true, then you had won the day. But a strange thing has happened in our post modern situation. Not only is there a cynicism regarding the existence of any kind of absolute truth, there is also a complacency about the whole matter.
In his book ‘A Life That Matters’, Ron Hutchcraft talks about a story that Ravi Zacharias tells. Ravi had just addressed a large crowd at an Ivy League university where he had presented a powerful case for Christianity and one of his associates was debating with four students who had stayed behind. The four of them argued while Ravi’s friend skillfully answered every objection they raised. Finally, after about an hour had passed, one of the students, who seemed to speak for the others comes out with this – “To be honest with you, I think most of what that man had to say is true – And I don’t care.”!!!
What an incredible admission that is! It illustrates very profoundly where so many people are at in these days we live in. It isn’t just that people don’t believe. They don’t care!!!
So what should we do? Give up? I don’t think so. That’s where people are at but we need to meet them where they are at. Like Jesus did. People in this day and age are very pragmatic. They might not care about what is ‘true’, but they care very much about what works and what doesn’t. People don’t want to acknowledge that truth exists because they want be a law unto themselves. However, they can’t escape the consequences. They may not care about what is true but they want to be happy because everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to have a good life or what they perceive to be a good life. And so, this must become our starting point with people. It is the crack in their armor that makes them vulnerable to the truth. For as they say, what works might not always be true, but what is true always works.
Of course we need to be careful with this line of approach. We don’t want to paint some kind of rosy gospel … “come to Jesus and all your problems will just go away and life will become easy”. But having said that, we do believe that living by the principles of the truth of God’s word does tend to make for a better life. There is a natural cause and effect. Sin is how life doesn’t work; how life wasn’t designed to work. There is an inherent reward in doing what is right. What is right and what is wise are inseparable.
The woman at the well (John 4) is just one example of how sin doesn’t work. We don’t know for sure the cause of all her relational failure but there is at least an intimation in the text that she was going about relationships all wrong. She was living life her way instead of God’s way which is what sin is. To quote Ron Hutchcraft, “every man was a well for her but she always came up thirsty… Thirsty again, that’s how every earth-relationship, earth-accomplishment and earth-possession leaves us in our souls.”
Yes, we need to be careful with this. Though I disagree with the criticisms often leveled against appealing to ‘felt needs’ they are not completely without merit. Most criticisms have some truth to them. We need to be careful. As Ron says in his book on page 157, “There is, however, a danger in beginning with a person’s felt need: you may skip the cancer and go right to the cure. ‘You’re lonely – and Jesus loves you. You’re searching – and Jesus is the answer.’ But Jesus did not die to rescue us from our loneliness or our depression or our emptiness. He died to rescue us from our sins…Jesus started with the Samaritan woman’s ‘felt need’ but He did use it to lead into a conversation that included the subject of sin.”
So, we need to proceed with caution. But we need to proceed. Because we need to meet people where they are at. Jesus met this woman at her point of need and then he used that ‘felt need’ to point to the greater issue – sin as the problem and Himself as the solution. Our goal should be to try and help people to the place where they are willing to consider the reason for the pain in their lives. This isn’t about just ‘treating the symptoms’. This is about using the symptoms to direct people to the cure. If people can get to the place where they are willing to consider that there is something really wrong then maybe they will be more willing to consider the one true Cure – a personal relationship with Christ that begins with His forgiveness.
In his book ‘A Life That Matters’, Ron Hutchcraft talks about a story that Ravi Zacharias tells. Ravi had just addressed a large crowd at an Ivy League university where he had presented a powerful case for Christianity and one of his associates was debating with four students who had stayed behind. The four of them argued while Ravi’s friend skillfully answered every objection they raised. Finally, after about an hour had passed, one of the students, who seemed to speak for the others comes out with this – “To be honest with you, I think most of what that man had to say is true – And I don’t care.”!!!
What an incredible admission that is! It illustrates very profoundly where so many people are at in these days we live in. It isn’t just that people don’t believe. They don’t care!!!
So what should we do? Give up? I don’t think so. That’s where people are at but we need to meet them where they are at. Like Jesus did. People in this day and age are very pragmatic. They might not care about what is ‘true’, but they care very much about what works and what doesn’t. People don’t want to acknowledge that truth exists because they want be a law unto themselves. However, they can’t escape the consequences. They may not care about what is true but they want to be happy because everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to have a good life or what they perceive to be a good life. And so, this must become our starting point with people. It is the crack in their armor that makes them vulnerable to the truth. For as they say, what works might not always be true, but what is true always works.
Of course we need to be careful with this line of approach. We don’t want to paint some kind of rosy gospel … “come to Jesus and all your problems will just go away and life will become easy”. But having said that, we do believe that living by the principles of the truth of God’s word does tend to make for a better life. There is a natural cause and effect. Sin is how life doesn’t work; how life wasn’t designed to work. There is an inherent reward in doing what is right. What is right and what is wise are inseparable.
The woman at the well (John 4) is just one example of how sin doesn’t work. We don’t know for sure the cause of all her relational failure but there is at least an intimation in the text that she was going about relationships all wrong. She was living life her way instead of God’s way which is what sin is. To quote Ron Hutchcraft, “every man was a well for her but she always came up thirsty… Thirsty again, that’s how every earth-relationship, earth-accomplishment and earth-possession leaves us in our souls.”
Yes, we need to be careful with this. Though I disagree with the criticisms often leveled against appealing to ‘felt needs’ they are not completely without merit. Most criticisms have some truth to them. We need to be careful. As Ron says in his book on page 157, “There is, however, a danger in beginning with a person’s felt need: you may skip the cancer and go right to the cure. ‘You’re lonely – and Jesus loves you. You’re searching – and Jesus is the answer.’ But Jesus did not die to rescue us from our loneliness or our depression or our emptiness. He died to rescue us from our sins…Jesus started with the Samaritan woman’s ‘felt need’ but He did use it to lead into a conversation that included the subject of sin.”
So, we need to proceed with caution. But we need to proceed. Because we need to meet people where they are at. Jesus met this woman at her point of need and then he used that ‘felt need’ to point to the greater issue – sin as the problem and Himself as the solution. Our goal should be to try and help people to the place where they are willing to consider the reason for the pain in their lives. This isn’t about just ‘treating the symptoms’. This is about using the symptoms to direct people to the cure. If people can get to the place where they are willing to consider that there is something really wrong then maybe they will be more willing to consider the one true Cure – a personal relationship with Christ that begins with His forgiveness.
Monday, April 5, 2010
This Is How Great God Is
This is how great God is – every child born is special. Now, you would think that an attempt to emphasize everything (or in this case, everyone) would result in the emphasizing of nothing (or no one). But, that’s how great God is! He can do that! You’d think, in making billions and billions of people that there would be no way for every single person to really be special. But they are. We are. You are. You are special to Him. Even before you were born, when God was knitting you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:15,16), God looked at you and said… “Now, this one is really special.”
We read through the Bible and we see men and women like Gideon and Esther and we readily see how they were special but here’s the thing - you are special. And that is NOT just sentimentality. God has a unique plan for every single person born into this world. Now, that doesn’t mean that all of us realize the plan or follow it. But that is our choice. As for God, He has a special plan, and therefore a special love, for every single person and that includes you.
Perhaps you know a mother who has six children. Do you think that they are each and all special to her? What if she had twenty?! Or what if … But that’s how great God is!
They say that no two snow flakes are exactly the same even though they are all alike. I guess if God can do it with snow, He can do it with people.
I think Max Lucado is right. God has your picture on His refrigerator. Because that is how great God is. And because God is so great, He made you special. And, yes, He wants you to feel that way. AND, He wants you to feel that way about everyone else too. Yes, everyone.
We read through the Bible and we see men and women like Gideon and Esther and we readily see how they were special but here’s the thing - you are special. And that is NOT just sentimentality. God has a unique plan for every single person born into this world. Now, that doesn’t mean that all of us realize the plan or follow it. But that is our choice. As for God, He has a special plan, and therefore a special love, for every single person and that includes you.
Perhaps you know a mother who has six children. Do you think that they are each and all special to her? What if she had twenty?! Or what if … But that’s how great God is!
They say that no two snow flakes are exactly the same even though they are all alike. I guess if God can do it with snow, He can do it with people.
I think Max Lucado is right. God has your picture on His refrigerator. Because that is how great God is. And because God is so great, He made you special. And, yes, He wants you to feel that way. AND, He wants you to feel that way about everyone else too. Yes, everyone.
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