What would Jesus Tweet?

So I have to admit…. I love the ongoing battle of the church vs. Twitter recently.  This in part is happening at my own church but I’m also noticing a lot more commentary on this happening around the web and in pastors blogs that I have been reading.

So what’s the significance of it all?

I guess let me preface this with the outset that this isn’t limited to church…. But schools, families, friends… whoever you have contact with on a regular basis.  The argument of it is… we are changing the way we think… the way we communicate, the way we act both privately and publically.  So what are the statistics of this “Tweeting” phenomenon.

Ironically, the most Twitter users, are age 45-54 (seen here: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/090408-122803) of which is surprising (to me at least) with the 25-34 year olds following just slightly in 2^nd place. (Come on guys…. Get with it!)  So there’s the demographic, but what’s the damage done to us in thinking in 140 characters or less?  Well one could make the argument that it is not helping the thousands out there that already have A.D.D. (myself included) but maybe even more importantly, it is teaching us to think in fragments.  I suppose so.  However I started thinking about that charge.  I started thinking of the ways I communicate.  Phone, text message, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, whatever… right?  Then I wondered if there is some disconnect on how all of those cause us to communicate the same way or differently.

A phone call makes us talk.  Pretty novel concept right?  But what is crazy is more and more people are wanting to just text message instead of having a phone conversation.  So then if you’re part of the group that doesn’t want to text but just “tweet me” instead, that forces non-long winded text messages (remember— Bite size) and forces people to cut to the chase.   Then if those people aren’t part of Twitter, they’re on Facebook either chatting, commenting on pictures, whatever and sharing what’s on their mind apparently.  Lastly, blogging.  I put this one last as it is the most comprehensive way of organizing ones thoughts (however… even my thoughts are all over the map…) but the point is… it’s akin to journaling.  You get to actually type out what you’re thinking and how that affects you or life’s happenings and your reflections on them.

I’m sure you’re wanting me to just “tweet” to the chase right?  Well here’s my point in saying all of that.  In the past 10 years, we have changed how we communicate over and over and over.  Some would say we have evolved to be “more efficient” in how we communicate but I wouldn’t say that is the case.  All of the above ways of communicating are tools.  It’s how you use those tools to communicate that shapes how you think.  I for one use Twitter to give updates on what I’m doing of which in turn updates my Facebook page.  Of which then… when I Blog, that feeds my Twitter (because it’s hungry!!) of which then updates my Facebook status.  Seriously, I’m a computer guy and it took me a while to figure out that apparatus of a do-hickie to setup.

All of this to say…. I don’t think the church needs to be afraid of these social communication tools because while it is suggested that they change the way we think, I don’t think that changes who the person is.  So what does the church do in the future to use these tools to help connect people better?  Twitter is all about having a conversation of which I think the church is in the process of figuring out what the topic is and how to integrate these tools to include more people.  Who knows, maybe the their will be a (hell I bet there is… yes… I just checked and there is…. lol) a #Twurch which is basically a conversation in which people join and discuss sermons, books or who knows what else.  So be yourself, don’t be limited to who you appear to be on Twitter, Facebook or Myspace… don’t stop being you.

-A

7 months later… is there an end in sight?

So this is more of a life update blog more than anything else.  If you care not to read… then you may want to stop reading right now.

I felt like this picture best represented what I have been experiencing.  A vast… waste less desert of both my mind and spirit.  I have been asking tough questions, and getting very little in terms of answers in return.  Is that bad? Maybe not… is it frustrating?  You bet.  Mentally, having been laid off on the 6th of November last year…. and without a job now some 7-8 months later…. after 5 or 6 strong interviews…. and ending up being the #2 pick on several of them…. where does it end?  When can my life get back to being “normal”.  With that…. have come some of the most shocking… horrifying and redeeming questions in just the past couple of months of which I look at and think…. I wouldn’t have asked these questions if I still had a job…. oh the irony.

Anyways— the question I asked was “Why do I need a job to define who I am as a person?”  That statement right there… broke my brain (yet again…) in ways that I now look at a job as simply a way to pay bills.  Beyond that… what is the purpose of a job?  Are most of you working at jobs of which you have a greater good or a greater purpose that fulfill some deep desire you have?  Not being negative or brash about it at all, but I have serious questions about why having a quote “normal” job in this day and age.   What’s funny is my generation has experienced America in two different views.  It’s like I want to still have one foot in the past part of my upbringing and culture with having a job where I make wads of cash and have a nice house and toys…. But now after the market crash, debt explosion and God only knows how much bailout money later… I think… “What’s the point?”

I still have no found the answer to my own question I asked.  I have still been applying for jobs and still been doing some consulting on the side just to try and keep up on the bills.  But to what end?  I look at some of the earlier generations before me… and sure… you can say or I have been told by my own mother… my generation wants to be “different” and rebellious in some way.  Of which I get the response “every generation wants to do that…” but then somehow the momentum of it stops and people accept the fact that they can’t change anything themselves.  I think though that this is one of the bigger paradigm shifts in my generation of saying “Just because it has always been that way… doesn’t mean that it has to continue being that way…” with the conviction of actually making sure that it doesn’t revert back to its old ways.

So as I continue to be part of Oregon’s 12% and growing unemployment thanks to the greater plan from God…. I don’t look at the company that fired me with bitterness (okay… well maybe a little…)… but to think that there is no way that I would be in the place that I am now… mentally and spiritually.

What happens from here?  Well there is about 20 days now until we’re off to Beirut for another bounding around the country of which I am excited.  However… the anticipation of it and the possibly of gaining clarity of the past 7 months by going somewhere else (while weird as it sounds) has me wondering if the answers aren’t there, but more questions will be awaiting me there.  As I strive to live beyond life what is normal, I don’t know what to expect, and I suppose these pains of having little money and no direction maybe are indicators of future days ahead.  Where do I place my faith?  Where do I place my comfort?  Where do I find satisfaction?— Is it in my house? My job? My things?

-A

June 1st, 2009 – We become GM’s owner

Well I’ve been saying it has needed to happen in one way or another…. and looks like I may have finally gotten my wish. The fact that we own 72% of the company with tax payer dollars goes to show you how out of touch this government is/ has gotten.

I pray that they stop spending all of this money they make up out of thin air and start using their brains again.

Stories of the downfall:
Politico
Fox News
Commentary from CNN on GM’s future