My Re-Birthday

Well it has been one full year since I was Baptized (see initial post) and what a year it has been… there have been many firsts and many steep learning curves, the road to maturity seems linear until baptism, at which point it becomes exponential, since being Baptized, I have been thrown in the proverbial “Deep end” leading the the youth Sabbath school, doing Bible studies, taking prelims, and as of August 8 I can add preaching a sermon to that list. If I did not have Christ Abiding in me I do not believe I would have been capable of the things I have have accomplished, that is not to say I am perfect or “good” at any of those things I mentioned, but the Lord is teaching me as I go along, Praise God he does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

As an example, when I was first asked to teach the youth sabbath school, the lessons started out being a long way below par, but the heavenly teacher worked with me through experience and some very understanding and patient participants to be able to take the class effectively, I have gone from being terrified of teaching, complete with sweaty palms and that sick feeling in ones stomach, to someone who is quite comfortable teaching the Sabbath School lesson.

I still occupy a place on the Media team at church, and have the pleasure of serving as the assistant youth leader, but now, a year on… what next?

The simple answer is “I don’t know” that is in the Lord’s hands, but I have faith that he will reveal it to me as I go along, I plan to continue to serve where I am, and would like the opportunity to preach and grow that talent, but ultimately I would like to organize my working life to allow me to work and Bible work, that will likely mean some training but when the Lord leads me to do so, I will know the time is right.

In short it has been the best year of my life. If anyone out there is struggling with committing to the Lord through baptism, I would love to have a chat to you and encourage you.

Maranatha.

My Own Social Experiment

Facebook, myspace, bebo, Social networking, weather you like it or not it seems to be here to stay, solidly engraved into the culture of this generation, i have heard people argue for and against the craze, so i thought it may be time to toss my 2 cents in.

I believe, like most tools there is a proper use and there is an improper use, take a shovel for example, if you are digging in the garden with one (as i was this afternoon) it is a very useful implement i certainly would not want to be without… however if i tried to use that shovel to  vacuum my carpet or brush my teeth  I don’t need to tell you that would not be one of my brighter ideas, and if i began spending all my time with that shovel, that would just be plain weird.

Now let me see if i can make this analog align itself into some form of sense… using the premise of Facebook being a tool, it is brilliant when used correctly, ie, it has allowed me to reconnect with old friends like Megan, stay in touch with new friends like Orion and indeed meet some inspirational people like Matthew, but when i spend too much time on it, it starts robbing time from other more important things, like time with my Saviour, working in the very occupation her has provided me with, and making meaningful contact with friends and family, when this begins to happen I cease being a good steward of the time alotted to me. Time is indeed precious, we should not “Kill time” it should be spent wisely on a daily basis, as you can never get a refund on any minute you spend.

Also the friendships cultivated on Facebook are typically (lets face it) superficial at best, lacking any real depth as long as you subscribe to the nominal “friendship” model of looking at their updates and pics while “liking” and commenting your way through. This is the reason i tend to actually message people to get to know them better, (by the way, this function is easily catered for by the now seemingly antiquated system called email.)

At this point, if you are still reading… you are likely wondering “what is this guy getting at?” well here it is… as I am not one of those strong willed people who can just look once and log-off, i must browse into every crevice of the social monolith that is facebook. Due to the fact my work has me at screen all day every day, the temptation to login is too ready a temptation, so i am introducing my own browsing rules for one month, to be re-evaluated on October 12.

For the next month i will only login to Facebook on Saturday nights.
This does not mean i am severing contact as i am still connected to twitter/email/msn/etc

Catch you all soon.