Txting for conversation. Good Idea?

4COL 1DR IYKWIM BC I'm txting.

Today it has become common to talk to each other in words or shorthand words rather than to sit face to face and talk. I see some advantages to texting when you need to provide some information that can be responded to at the receiver's leisure. Alternatively, I see a major disadvantage in texting someone to carry on a conversation. When one shares a real time conversation, word or text is only one element of this conversation. There also must exist an element of body language and tone of voice that you cannot transmit with a written message. Even during a phone conversation it is possible to sense some body language by listening to the tone of voice. Texting was never meant to carry on a conversation. Over recent history, I have experienced many hurt feelings and miscommunication when someone chooses to use texting as a substitute for conversation. A generation is coming up today that thinks it foreign to have a face to face or phone to phone verbal conversation. I have put a great deal of thought into this subject and I suggest that those who read this should be guarded in the faith you put into the method of communicating by text. Take care in what you send others, you never know who may hear(read) your words. Make sure your message is clear, and work fast to correct any misinterpretation. Better yet, pick up the phone and call or sit down face to face. It is easier this way.


BTW LY mean it!

Honesty begats Trust

The truth is that the TRUTH is all there is. Honesty is a word and an idea that we talk about way too much and put into practice way too little. I would be willing to say that anyone who reads this can "honestly" say that they have not always told the truth. We catch ourselves many times lying to ourselves and others to achieve self-preservation. Wanting to be something other than who we are motivates us to be dishonest. The problem is that eventually you will have to come out of hiding if relationships with others continue to grow. In order for trust to be obtained, complete honesty must be present at the beginning. A relationship that started out with honesty and has grown to trust can still be jeopardized by one's dishonesty. When this occurs one must quickly come clean with the dishonesty if trust will ever be achieved in the relationship's future. Having a sense of trust in a relationship is a good thing. As children and young adults we want to be trusted with more and more freedoms from our parents. With romantic relationships one wants to trust the other and not be faced with looming jealousy. Friendly relationships count on trust to maintain mutual respect. So in order to maintain and grow trust in a relationship one must continuously test this relationship with honesty. Ralph Waldo Emerson said this:

"The highest compact we can make with another is "let there be truth between us two for evermore".

I know there are some who are scared of the truth of themselves and the fallout that will surely occur if they were to ever be completely honest in their relationships. However, you must know to realize full trust, complete honesty must prevail. In no way am I trying to make light of the difficulty of being completely and totally honest, because I know from experience that this is no easy task to bring the real you out and lay it all on the table seeing only then where the chips will fall.

First we must learn to be honest with ourselves so that we can grow to trust ourselves. Only then can we grow to accept the consequences that come along with our honesty.

Questions for Jesus

Last night we discussed some questions that we would have for Jesus. I want to record these questions that were written down by the group. In no way can I attempt to answer these questions, but most of these questions bring up a recent idea that we discussed during our last lock in. I will list these questions below:

How were you able to feed 5000 people by just looking up and praying?

Why me?

When r u coming back to Earth?

Why did you die for our sins?

Why do you love me out of all the people in the World, why me?

Why did you want to die?

Why would you die for me?

Will people listen to me if I tell them about Jesus?

My question is for his advice on leading others to him. What needs to be done to have more believers in this World?

Why did my mom have to die so young?


Some of these questions deal with the specific timing of events. We talked a few weeks ago about the measure of time as we understand it (Greek - Chronos) and God's measure of time (Greek - Kairos). Chronos is the root word for which we get many of our words that define time measurement devices. It deals in fixed intervals of time defined by seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, etc. Kairos, on the other hand means "right or opportune moment" according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos. God's timing is always right. He determines when the tulips will bloom and he determines the proper time for all events to occur. We as humans have very little grasp of this type of time. This brings forth many questions of which we don't understand the timing of certain events past, present, or in the future. Some have tried to define this time and especially many attempts have been made to determine God's time and the time of Jesus' return. If I may quote his word.

35 "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. ................ 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Luke 12:35-40 (NIV)

I do not know when he is returning and do not expect to know, but I do know that I will be ready and waiting when he returns. In the meantime I believe we are to live life with urgency enjoying the present but always reaching to others in our daily lives and sharing the hope we have in Christ and his assured return. We as humans do not have the capacity to understand this Kairos time, but lets not let the worry of Chronos time take away from the willingness to live every moment anticipating God's opportune time.

First Post

Well my good friend and Pastor Craig Thompson convicted me to get on the blog bandwagon. I will be trying to formulate some of my lofty ideas and insights into print through this media. I hope you will enjoy, be challenged, and find encouragement from the words and ideas you find here. It is only because of the Grace of the Living God that I feel empowered to write. His grace is sufficient.