Lasting Value

I guess I am changing. I watched a lot of football yesterday, more than I have in quite some time. I used to watch a lot more, but I seemed to have tailed off in the past few years. And I must admit, I struggled to watch as much as I did (especially the second half of the Colts win, being a born and bred New Yorker, raised on the Namath Jets, it has been a long haul since Superbowl III). Even as interesting the Saints-Vikings game was, I struggled. A little sorry how much time I spent watching, but I wanted a break from school work so I took the time.

Tastes change, interests change. What was vitally important, totally absorbing of your time and attention, loses appeal. What I think of as the sprint things in life. An intense burst of speed, an accomplished goal, then a fade out. I guess the things that last are the ones that are meaningful. Friends, family, faith. Those are the things that stay with me, the things I cherish year in and out. Marathon things, with lots of stamina and perseverance. Things that take time, but that are worth the effort you pour into them. Things that will not go away and you will be glad they do not, because you need them as anchors.

I will watch the Superbowl in a few weeks, and will enjoy it while it lasts. But then, back to the race of life alongside the things I love.

Remembrance

My Dad passed away last week and I just came home after returning back east for the funeral. It was a week touched with much sadness, much remembrance, much reflection. A week of tears mixed with some laughter, the recent pain mixed in with some of the past happiness. A week when I was touched by the loss of a loved one, but also touched by the love, encouragement and support shown by friends and family. Seeing and talking with cousins, sometimes for the first time in a decade. Seeing friends who traveled up from Texas to be at the funeral, spending more time traveling to and fro than the were able to spend on the ground, but who wanted to be there. It blew me away to see them as we entered the church. It hit me even harder yesterday to hear they used the travel time on the plans to share Christ with people. I am humbled to see how God moves in this world, using all for the glory of His name. Paul certainly laid that out clearly and correctly in Romans.

Standing at the grave site on a slight rise in the snow covered cemetery on a cold January morning. Listening to taps being played for a soldier who took part in D Day in 1944 as a very young man. The thought occurred to me that the winter wind will always blow more chill for the rest of my time on this earth, yet the warmth of His love will comfort me even more as it does. One of my earthly safety nets, my Dad, is gone. How I know even more today how I need to rely solely on the Lord to see me through this life to the next.

I am sure I will have my moments in the upcoming days, weeks and months. I am blessed to have a Dad like I did, for as long as I did. And I am more blessed to have a loving and gracious Lord to walk by my side as I struggle on through this life's journey.

A Definition of Community

This is a recent picture of my friend wheel off of my Facebook profile. To me, it is a graphic depiction of what one intertwingled community, that of my Facebook friends, looks like. Every once and a while I look at it to try to understand how connectivity between people is building as my network grows. There are some well connected segments across the top (my church, 121 Community Church) and top right (the Kanakuk Institute) and a loner contingent across the lower right side. Not that these folks are loners, they are quite social, it is just they do not link in with others in this particular world of mine. This wheel probably says much about group dynamics and how they develop that I have not even begun to think about.

It is a picture of how community can develop over time, especially when using tools that were not available just a few years ago. The key to this type of community is working to keep it growing deeper as the on line aspect makes a surface relationship quite easy.

I think of community with God and how easy it is for me to keep my relationship with Him on the surface with the tools He has provided me. The death of Jesus for my sin allows me the access to the throne in prayer and supplication, in praise and joy 24/7. Yet if I do not reach out it will be a relationship on the surface only. To my loss and dismay.

So this wheel reminds my of that and the need to connect beyond and beneath the surface. Other than that, I like the pretty colors.

To Befriend and De-friend

As a professionally trained accountant, I spent decades tracking, measuring and reporting numbers. I apparently have some talent for doing so, or else people have just been nice to me in the past; telling me that and paying me for supposedly doing that. I do not do that anymore for a living (Hi. My name is Andy, and I am an accountant), but I still in my mind measure and track numbers from time to time.

So I notice when numbers change. Like when I lose a Facebook friend. I may not know who, and I do not try to track them down and find out why (But Mom! I am your youngest son! How could you de-friend me like that! What are people going to think? What are they going to think about ME?)

But what is apparent is how easy it is to make friends in social media, and how darned easy it is to get rid of them. Click a hotlink and they are gone; and they might not even know you are gone as well. And let's be honest, you have probably been on both sides of that equation. Haven't you? I thought so.

My questions are:

• What responsibility to we have to maintain, to cultivate friendships that spring up for us solely on social media; friendships in which the chance of any face to0 face encounter is quite small?
  
• Do we run the risk of becoming quite callous in our casual friendships?
  
• Will this attitude spill over into the face to face interactions we have?