What Will I Do Without Facebook?
I have decided to delete my Facebook account. Why? Because it is a time vacuum! I have friends that have Facebook and they check it once a week and that is it, if I was one of those people, that would be great. Unfortunately I don’t seem to be one of those people, so I am more the kind that checks it once an hour. What brought me to this point. I am preaching on prayer this Sabbath and I was thinking about the things that I do more than pray…I used to watch more TV than pray…I used to watch more movies than pray…I used to watch more sports than pray…I used to play more golf than pray…all those things have basically been eliminated in my life. But as I was writing my sermon today…I realized that whenever I took a “mental break” or a “stretch break” I was simultaneously checking Facebook. Checking Facebook has almost become a default function in my life. I don’t want anything to be a default programmed function in my life other than Prayer, Studying the Bible, Loving my wife, loving my kids, and doing good to others.
So when I realized all this, the nagging sense that I should take a fast from Facebook kicked into high gear. Then sudden intense resistance! I began to rationalize all the reasons I should stay on Facebook. I began trying to convince myself that I could just check it once a day. I wondered, “What will I do without Facebook?” Forgetting I had lived about 30 years without Facebook. But as the resistance grew so too did the determination to leave Facebook behind. I’ve learned that if I am trying to cling to things that are not of the spiritual nature or rationalize existence of those things in my life, then that is a sure sign it is time to say goodbye. So I say goodbye to Facebook today…in just an hour or so to be exact.
Why am I canceling it completely. Because I know myself…Nuff said! 🙂
I may be back someday, of course I took a 40 day fast from MySpace about 4 years ago and never went back to that, so maybe this will be permanent. Not all my time on Facebook has been a waste, but a lot of it has, so hopefully the time that was wasted will now be utilized for the Kingdom of God!
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The Bible In Our Homes: Guest Post Jennifer Pettengill
Greetings Parents, I want to encourage you to read this post by a very close friend of Christina and I, Jennifer Pettengill. God is using her to raise a beautiful child of the Lord and to help others do the same. Thanks for the reminders of this post Jennifer! You can read more of Jennifer’s stuff on her blog: Growing to Know Jesus
The Bible in our homes
The more I read, the more I realize that my job raising Calissa has a lot to do with my walk with God. As I run after God, she will see, He will have victory in me, and He will live out His life within me. We have such a wonderful, patient, and giving Father! Here are some quotes that have given me direction with teaching the bible…
“Even when quite young, children notice; and if the parents show that the Word of God is not their guide and counselor, if they disregard the messages brought to them, the same reckless spirit of, ‘I don’t care; I will have my own way,’ will be shown by the children.” Child Guidance p. 509 “Do not think that the Bible will become a tiresome book to the children. Under a wise instructor the Word will become more and more desirable. It will be to them as the bread of life; it will never grow old.” Child Guidance p. 514 “Parents, let the instruction you give your children be simple, and be sure that it is clearly understood. The lessons that you learn from the Word you are to present to their young minds so plainly that they cannot fail to understand. ” Child Guidance p. 514 “The use of object lessons, blackboards, maps and pictures will be an aid in explaining these lessons and fixing them in the memory. Parents and teachers should constantly seek for improved methods. The teaching of the Bible should have our freshest thought, our best methods, and our most earnest effort.” Child Guidance p. 516 * now we have so many more methods that can be used… “Neglect anything of a temporal nature,(then it talks about unnecessary sewing and such being done away with)…but be sure that the soul is fed with the bread of life…. Make the Bible its own expositor, bringing together all that is said concerning a given subject at different times and under varied circumstances. Do not break up your home class for callers of visitors. If they come in during the exercise, invite them to take part in it. Let it be seen that you consider it more important to obtain a knowledge of God’s word than to secure the gains or pleasures of the world.” Review and Herald, Oct. 9 1883Stretching Beyond 10%
It is Sabbath afternoon and I am sitting here pondering the idea of Sacrificial Giving. Have you ever noticed that in the New Testament that when it comes to the issue of MONEY we as humanity seem to be stretched by God beyond the 10% (tithe) of the Old Testament?
“And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” –Matthew 5:40
“Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.” –Matthew 5:42
Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” –Matthew 19:21
“And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” –Mark 12:41-44
“And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.” –Luke 19:8, 9
“And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” –Acts 2:45
In the above scriptures we see at the very least that sacrificial giving seems to be encouraged, if not expected. I wonder though how many of us actually sacrifice? And by sacrifice I mean “go without” in order to give to another, or to give to God through the church.
Some questions I have? Can someone consider themselves a sacrificial giver if they purchase NFL Sunday Ticket? Can I consider myself a sacrificial giver since we bought a brand new Honda Odyssey Minivan? I am just wondering what sacrificial giving really looks like? These aren’t rhetorical questions I am struggling through these thoughts. Is sacrificial giving the moment I “feel” the giving? What if someone is a miser and giving away a dollar is “felt” by them? Is sacrificial giving taking the time to pause the moment I want something and asking can God if He can use this money for other more important things, and when He says, “yes” as He I am sure often would I then sacrifice my wants for the greater good? Is sacrificial giving based on what we have or what we would have if we weren’t so wasteful with our money? In other words is a person in extreme debt off the hook for sacrificial giving, or do they need give based on what they could have if they had used their money in a God honoring way in the first place? Anyone come to a conclusion in their own life?
I know for Christina and I it is not 10%, just tithe, though I am sure for some it is. But 10% for Christina and I wouldn’t even be thought of at the end of the year. So it is more…but how much more?
Here is where I am at right now with this. Let me know if you think this is right or wrong, or if you have a better thought I would love to hear it!?
I try to give now where I have to think about it! And ask the questions I am asking. The moment I get comfortable with what I am giving, we are giving, I think that is the time to give more…that is how we are going about it at this point in our lives. If I don’t feel stretched and I don’t even think of the amount I am giving anymore and ponder it, then I need to raise the bar on my giving.
What do you think? Maybe someone out there has read some things on sacrificial giving. I am open to your wisdom! Please share!
People Need the Lord: A Guest Post by Noemi Roman
Noemi Roman is the Bible worker of the Visalia Seventh-day Adventist church and she is also working with our team to plant our new campus/church The Ark. Yesterday she was out inviting community people to The Ark’s Cookout, a connecting event this Sunday. The following is the story of an encounter she had with a lady by the name of Victoria:
Last night my sister and I while knocking on doors inviting people to the new church, knocked on a door of a lady who was on the phone. Not wanting to bother her, I was about to just leave the flyer on the door, but before I could pull it from my hand, she motioned for me to open the door and come inside. By the time we were through the front door, she had us two cold Pepsi’s and a apple apple juice (for Isaiah) in our hands motioning for us to sit down on the sofa. As we talked she told us that she needed to be saved and was scared she was lost. She questioned what was different about our church and said that even though we were nice, she probably wouldn’t attend because she felt like such a sinner, and had no knowledge of God. All she knew of Him was from what she had seen from The Passion of the Christ, she told us that if any of that was true and if He was willing to endure all that for us then she really wanted to be saved. We told her that God loved her and that it was by Grace alone, through faith, to the Glory of God alone that we are saved. Yvonne was so loving to her and asked her if she had ever considered bible studies. Her answer was no, because she felt embarrassed because she hadn’t read the bible and didn’t think she could understand it. She explained that her life had been spent making bad choices and that if we only knew, it would make us think different of her. WOW! I told her that God loved her and despite OUR failure, His love continues and will always continue. She looked at us so puzzled and said she had never heard such things. I thought how could someone not know that God loves them? God loves us so much and yet the Devil tries to blind people into not seeing who God really is~ A loving compassionate Father who at the thought of not spending eternity with us, jumped off a throne and land on cross just to save us and show us how much He values us. Giving up His life shows us our value. I praised God that she had seen The Passion of the Christ, that if that was the only knowledge she had of Him, PTL because that is the Gospel! (Despite some of the different portrayals of Christ in the movie vs bible).
As we were leaving she walked us out and I felt impressed to ask her if I could pray with her. Her eyes began to fill with tears and she asked if we could go back inside just the two of us. We went to her room and I grabbed her hand and prayed for her, I asked God to pour His Spirit on her and show her that He died to save especially her, that her name Victoria is engraved in the palm of His hands and that despite whom she sees, God sees a beautiful daughter whom He loves. I poured out my heart because I wanted her to know that she was loved and that we weren’t there by chance, God had led us to her house specifically. She cried the entire prayer. As I was leaving she hugged me and asked what she could bring on Sunday.
God is so good and meeting Victoria yesterday reminded me just how much God loves us. I left so blessed and so encouraged. There are so many people out in this world that don’t really know who God really is and how much He loves them. Thank you God for leading us to Victoria yesterday. Our group knocked on over 100 other doors and personally invited each of them. Please keep this Sunday’s event in prayer, pray for the last 200 invitations that were personally asked to come in prayer.
Random Thoughts on Facebook
Here are some random thoughts on Facebook, why I love it, and why I hate it!
Let us start with the LOVE list:
- There are friends I have connected with on Facebook that I had lost contact with years ago, and while our contact is not extensive it is nice to have knowledge of their life and to share with them a ‘bit of my life.
- A great resource to share church information and to connect with folk interested in the same groups or communities!
- I love being able to easily invite folk to events that are happening for our church or for social occasions.
- It is awesome when prayer is needed and their is a request made and you see the firestorm reaction.
- More people read my blog, “Outside the Pulpit” from Facebook than from any other avenue.
- I like being able to congratulate folk on big milestones and achievements in their lives.
- Having access to information like THIS so that I can join the cause!
- Seeing pictures of my kids that my little sister takes all the time. I feel like Christina and I don’t need to worry about storing memories, since Erin does that for us:)
Okay now things I hate about Facebook:
- That awkwardness I feel when someone asks me to be a friend on Facebook and I have NO IDEA who they are!
- That it sucks up WAY TOO MUCH OF MY TIME!
- The farm things and all the little give away non-sense people link me too…hmmmmm (clearing throat) “MOM”
- That there are reports of Facebook being listed as a cause in 1 of 5 divorces, which is something in the past I would have laughed at, except for I know two couples that are divorced or getting divorced in part because of Facebook liason connections.
- That I see things on Facebook that I wish I didn’t know about…have actually had to block some folk because the stuff that is put up on their page just makes me sad.
- That is used as a gossip and back biting forum…only the gossip is not just to one person, but to 1000’s!
What about you? Do you love or hate Facebook?
8 Truths That Have Penetrated Because of Kids
I’ve learned more about God’s love for His children from my two sons than from anything else I have experienced in my life!
Here is what I have learned: (a lot of these are what I have learned from my oldest, because he is 2 going on 3 and Landon is 10 months:)).
1. Grace comes easy to God. I’ve already forgiven Dayton before he says sorry.
2. God’s discipline is done in love. I can honestly say there is only one time that I disciplined Dayton in anger, otherwise my discipline has genuinely come from a loving place.
3. God’s discipline helps me grow as an individual. Christina and I have seen changes in our son in the positive through discipline.
4.God is obsessed with saving me/humanity (His children). I know this because lately the greatest thing on my mind and in my prayers is, “please Jesus help me to raise my boys to love You!” I am desirous above all other things that my children will be in the Kingdom of Heaven with their Creator & Savior.
5. God’s love is limitless. I love fully both my boys and I want more children because although I never knew before I could love this much, I know that no matter how many children I have I will still have enough love to give.
6. God sees His children as beautiful. I am sure my kids aren’t the most beautiful kids that exist in the world (though pretty close:)), but to me I see the handsomest young boys ever created.
7. God’s love is not influenced by my actions. Landon cried for almost 2 hours straight the other night…never once did my love waver!
8. Jesus would have died even if it was for just me and no one else. I would lay down my life in a heartbeat for either one of my boys.
Thank you God for helping me to know more about you through my two sons, so that I may love you more in my life!