So, I added an album of pictures just to the right of the screen that has these pictures of the flowers that Sara planted this past spring that are in full bloom now! It brings me no greater joy than to see my wife take joy in her hobbies, check out her blog to truly see what I mean because she decided this past year that she was going to start a garden...little to my knowledge she was actually dreaming up a small farm in our backyard! But hey, last night was by far the best pepper I've ever had, not to mention the fresh green beans, broccoli, squash, and soon to be much more!
Most of the time when Sara says she has something in her mind that she wants to do, I have to realize that she already has her heart set on it and her mind working on how to do it, like with her sewing, her photography, etc...so, I think my wife is just CREATIVE and needs outlets for that...and so this is why we have an amazing camera, to take the amazing pictures of her flowers that were just kind of a side thought to her garden! Then you've got her bags that she's made that are being sold at the SURF HOUSE in Carolina Beach, NC that just blows my mind. She also decided that she was going to teach herself photoshop...which she uses over at Ribbet Salon & Shop for Kids over in Wilmington, NC...you should check out the graphics, some of which are her handiwork! It blows my mind to realize how amazing my wife is, and it took me encouraging her to take pictures this morning of her flowers to remind myself of that!
God has an amazing way of revealing things to us through his creation, and I think this is a big reason why my wife is so Creative, because she can see God work in and through a lot of her creativity that most don't recognize! For most of us we see flowers, but God created them, check some of these pics out and just look at the creativity that went into making each one different. I have to slow down sometimes and take notes from my wife when it comes to creativity, because she draws from the master of creativity...GOD, and maybe I should look into being a bit more creative!
I can't wait to spend this evening on the beach with my wife, friends, and students from Barefoot Students. I'm truly blessed and I get to enjoy God's creativity daily...we just have to open our eyes and look for it! Plus I get to SURF!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Effective or just busy?
WOW...it's been over 3 months since I've written something on here, and it feels kinda weird! Life has been nuts, and that is partially responsible for fueling this post. Here lately God has been pushing on my heart to evaluate what I'm doing and see if it is effective or if I'm just doing things that make me look busy! Since my last post, the Barefoot Student ministry is finally moving in the right direction. After figuring out where and how I fit, I started getting a vision for the student ministry from God and I've been plugging at that ever since. I mean, we've got 5 students getting Baptized this weekend, can I get an AMEN (for all my Southern Baptist Family back home). There are alot of things that I do throughout the day, and some I've already stopped that just make me seem like I'm busy, but actually when I evaluated their effectiveness, seem like a huge waste of time.
When I was at the UofA, I remember spending(wasting) HOURS on Facebook seeing what everyone and now literally their Dog is up to! Pet facebook...come on people, your dog and cat don't need you living their lives for them through a fantasy social network, Sorry, just weird to me!!! Anyways, I've truly seen it all. I've been a member of facebook since the beginning of my freshman year..oh yeah, by the way, it launched in february of that same year! That is back when only MAJOR Universities had it, you had to go through an application process that the Chancellor of your school had to approve! A year or so later they opened it up to anyone with a University/College email...and I remember when I thought the world was coming to an end when they allowed High School Students to sign up!!! Now, as I said...EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG!!! So, is it a social network, marketing scheme, conspiracy? Who knows, but all I know is that I evaluated its effectiveness at reaching our students...and I had more adults and staff members on our Student Ministry Fan Page than we had students...I'm not kidding, like 6-10% of the "Fans" were actual students. And that was the trend for Twitter as well!
Now on to why I started this post. With Facebook and now Twitter, your week could get lost TWEETING, RE-TWEETING, Checking facebook status' and looking at pictures that your "friends" posted that you really didn't even talk to back when you were IN high school. I just feel like someone needs to say this, I'm a realist and to me this just doesn't seem RIGHT!
I'm a math mind, so bear with me for a sec and I'll explain! Say you spend 30sec tweeting every time you tweet, you tweet 15 times a day...that's nearly and hour a week tweeting...I'm being generous here! Then you add in all of the time you spend reading others tweets, re-tweeting, and direct messaging others when you could just call or text them, and you've probably got at least another hour if not more there!
2 Hours a week on TWITTER...now I don't even want to go into the math that is involved with Facebook, but for a social network to bring people together, it sure has made interactions with others even more secluded and shallow than ever, not to mention a huge chunk of time wasted!
Now don't get me wrong, I do have both twitter and facebook and no plans of getting rid of them anytime soon because they can be great tools to connect people...So...God has really pushed me to re-evaluate the way I spend my time, the way I use things like Facebook and Twitter in my ministry, and is pushing me to think even more strategically when it comes to my ministry. God is really pushing me right now to clean up areas of my life that, although may not be bad, are not the best for my ministry. What is God telling you to do next? How much time do you spend being antisocial on Social Networks where you could be spending that time with God? What's the first thing you do in the morning, recognize your SAVIOR, or update your status? These are all questions I've asked myself in the last several months and they can be painful to own up to, but God wants your best, not just good!
When I was at the UofA, I remember spending(wasting) HOURS on Facebook seeing what everyone and now literally their Dog is up to! Pet facebook...come on people, your dog and cat don't need you living their lives for them through a fantasy social network, Sorry, just weird to me!!! Anyways, I've truly seen it all. I've been a member of facebook since the beginning of my freshman year..oh yeah, by the way, it launched in february of that same year! That is back when only MAJOR Universities had it, you had to go through an application process that the Chancellor of your school had to approve! A year or so later they opened it up to anyone with a University/College email...and I remember when I thought the world was coming to an end when they allowed High School Students to sign up!!! Now, as I said...EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG!!! So, is it a social network, marketing scheme, conspiracy? Who knows, but all I know is that I evaluated its effectiveness at reaching our students...and I had more adults and staff members on our Student Ministry Fan Page than we had students...I'm not kidding, like 6-10% of the "Fans" were actual students. And that was the trend for Twitter as well!
Now on to why I started this post. With Facebook and now Twitter, your week could get lost TWEETING, RE-TWEETING, Checking facebook status' and looking at pictures that your "friends" posted that you really didn't even talk to back when you were IN high school. I just feel like someone needs to say this, I'm a realist and to me this just doesn't seem RIGHT!
I'm a math mind, so bear with me for a sec and I'll explain! Say you spend 30sec tweeting every time you tweet, you tweet 15 times a day...that's nearly and hour a week tweeting...I'm being generous here! Then you add in all of the time you spend reading others tweets, re-tweeting, and direct messaging others when you could just call or text them, and you've probably got at least another hour if not more there!
2 Hours a week on TWITTER...now I don't even want to go into the math that is involved with Facebook, but for a social network to bring people together, it sure has made interactions with others even more secluded and shallow than ever, not to mention a huge chunk of time wasted!
Now don't get me wrong, I do have both twitter and facebook and no plans of getting rid of them anytime soon because they can be great tools to connect people...So...God has really pushed me to re-evaluate the way I spend my time, the way I use things like Facebook and Twitter in my ministry, and is pushing me to think even more strategically when it comes to my ministry. God is really pushing me right now to clean up areas of my life that, although may not be bad, are not the best for my ministry. What is God telling you to do next? How much time do you spend being antisocial on Social Networks where you could be spending that time with God? What's the first thing you do in the morning, recognize your SAVIOR, or update your status? These are all questions I've asked myself in the last several months and they can be painful to own up to, but God wants your best, not just good!
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