Why Social Media Is Good for Us

Caleb Gardner writes a tech blog for RELEVANT about how social media and Facebook can actually help Christians communicate with each other and with God.

How much do we know?

Atheists, agnostics most knowledgeable about religion, survey says - latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/
Survey finds nonbelievers know more, on average, about religion than the most faithful. Jews and Mormons also score high in the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey by the Pew Forum. Evangelical Christian Protestants and white Catholics come next.

Are we full of ourselves?

We had a great Parents' Night on Sunday with many of our youth and their parents. The discussion topic of the evening was on Facebook. Many good thoughts and discussion was had by all. And for all of you who missed it you should be kicking yourself now!

Since our discussion the other night I have been thinking further on the topic of Facebook, Twitter and all the social media that is out there. Is our society really becoming more Narcissistic, "which is is the personality trait of egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness." According to Wikipedia. Which again is the online the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

So the quesion still remains, are we becoming more and more selfish? Or are we as selfish as we have always been (human nature) but it just is precieved to be growing worse because of all the tools and ways to be self published? Like this blog for instance. Lets look at history of selfishness. Adam and Even surely demonstrated there need to promote self when they wanted to be as smart as God they did exactly what they were told not to do, eat the fruit. What about their children they were not any better. Cain even was so jealous and wanted more attention he killed for it. I think if one would look all through history they would find that humans have been pretty selfish forever. That we have been about self preservation and looking to make others like us, or now friend us and tweet about us.

This doesn't mean that we shouldn't be alarmed. I think we should be careful of how our online behavior can cause narcissistic behavior and tendacies. If we find ourselves clicking over to Facebook before sleep because we just won't be able until we get our fix on being up-to-date on everyones status or who comment on our wall. Then we sould be concerned that we are leaning towards the selfish and selfabsorbed side of our humaness.

Maybe for some of us we need to take a break from the traps of Facebook, Twitter and other social media. We may need to leave our cell phone off or at home for a day and just enjoy being disconected for awhile. Maybe we just need to grab a cup of joe and have a face to face conversation with a friend, enjoy sometime with the family and just be ourselves.

Well these are just some thoughts, I could be wrong. Now onto other things like cleaning up my inbox on Facebook!

Plastic Jesus

I wonder how many of us are living a life un affected by Jesus and the church? Would love to hear from all of you on what you think of this video and that questions. How is Jesus making a REAL difference in your life?

Prayer

We have been looking at prayer and what it means to live a life of prayer at Youth Am. If you are unaware of what Youth AM is; well ask one of our youth who participate. We have been wrestling with the concept of praying continually, making prayer a habit and beings generally interested in developing a stronger prayer life. But there are a few questions that bug me as we have developed this study and have begun to discuss and share with one another. First of all, does prayer really matter? Does it work?Are our prayers really heard by the all powerful God? If you can answer yes to these questions, great; but for us who are struggling to find answers or what we really believe we need to continue to ask and to seek.

Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

I don't think that Jesus was saying that every wish is His command. I think He was asking us for open and honest conversations with Him. Jesus is longing for us to engage Him in relationship; not just typical Sunday rituals, but rather life transforming encounters with the creator. Jesus is asking for us to pray, to seek and to take a proactive part in our communication and relationship with Him.

For me prayer often is something we just do. I say my words, sometimes repetitive and then Amen and hang up on God. I don't take the time to be still and listen for a response. To seek the heart of God and what He may be sharing with me in response. Why is that? Do I not believe that He will answer? Am I too selfish and inward focused?

Well I am not going to give up. There are certainly better days than others. But I am not going to stop praying, I am going to continue to struggle and build a better prayer life. To make a habit of being continuous about prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 "pray continually". And then take the time to listen and allow God to speak back. To believe that He cares and wants to speak to me. I may not always like the answer, but I am going to engage!

John Wesley offers us much insight to the Christian practice of prayer. He wrote, "All who desire the grace of God are to wait for it, first, in the way of prayer." I don't know about you but often I grow impatient and want instant answers and action. But this isn't how God works. If you look over scripture you see that through the generations God worked in His timing and His timing alone. Many grew impatient. But it was the patient the steadfast that were rewarded and encouraged. Wesley also stated, "the most useful of all pastimes." When I think of pastimes this time of year I think of sports; particularly football. We certainly don't equate prayer with pastimes, but we also don't live lives as reckeless and with as much enthusiasm as John Wesley did. I wonder why not?

Coffee Make & Grinder took off this weekend

So this weekend when Sarah and I were gone camping our Coffee Maker and Grinder took off on an adventure. The good news is that they have saftely return. I guess you shouldn't mess with other people's furniture? Here is a tale of their adventures. These are the excerpts that were e-mailed to us from coffeeandgrinder@yahoo.com

We are tired of you only using us to fulfill you basic morning, and occasional evening, needs. We are more than just appliances to be ignored. We need to break free from the bonds of Anniston. We are done with this place...We are GOING FOR A RIDE!

We never knew how much fun it could be to sow our wild beans. We have so much to do... It has been great enjoying the wind in our grounds and the sun on our knobs. Oh how we do enjoy playing around.

Man is it hot out there, playing around gets us all perked up. We need to take break from the fun and get a good cleaning. Nothing to fancy, but a refreshing dip can ready us for more days of fun. Krups can kiss our filters.

We have had so much fun on our first day out around town. Last night we met so many new friends. They were party animals! This morning as we hit the ground grinding. We have a big day planned. So much to brew and so little time to brew it in. Here are some other friends we met on our adventures.

Wow, this is a fine medium roast type of day. With all the great outdoorsy things to do, We may never come home. Check out our cool rock climbing experience.

Too much fun, leads to the occasional dash to the sketchy toilets. But, when you gotta drip, you gotta drip.

We have quickly realized our batteries are getting low and we needed to find a way to juice up for the fun yet to come.... We thought about haning around for job interview, but something tells me it we just couldn't grind it.

Nothing makes you appreciate one another more than a little time together. I am sure that since you have been without us, you have spent lots of time thinking about us. Well, we have been thinking about us too. And we think you should do more for us. You two are always doing fun things, and never, ever do you take us with you. You expect us to be there when you get back, be there when your gone lying in wait for your every caffinated command. We just wanted you to not take us for granted. We appreciate you and what you have done for us. Organic Fair Trade fillers warm us up and make life good, but so does a little TLC. That's what we have been up to.

AHHH. . .
Summer is Crazy busy. But so much going on. Need to update and share about Project Noah, CCE, WOC coming up soon! And the many things happening at CGC in Cedar Grove! Wow one of these days will get it all done. Or not? I guess it is more about the adventure and process than the finsih?