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AT&T put out a nice little reminder in a newsletter as to proper cellphone etiquette. Here are six reminders for everyone as to how to use your cellphone:
1. Avoid “cell yell.”
2. Be discreet
3. Save face with the people you’re with.
4. Plan ahead.
5. Think quick
6. Location, location, location!
For more on all of the above, click below.
AT&T.
Sharing your faith.
If faith is a part of your life–a passion of your life, why wouldnt you want to talk about it? Doesnt mean you have to force yr faith down people’s throats–doesnt mean you have to try and convert people–but if it is that important to you, a driving force in yr life, shouldnt it creep into conversation every now and then.
Contagious.
There’s a book out, though I havent read it, about being a “contagious Christian.” I like the concept. Passion is contagious. When someone is fired up about something, dont you get fired up about it to.
I’m not a big hockey fan, but I know some hockey fans, and when they talk about it and get worked up, I get excited to–even though I have no idea what their talking about–power plays, icing, etc–I thought hockey was all about the fights.
But I love excited people–I love people who are passionate about something, even if it’s something I’m not passionate about. I love hearing people talk about their cars, their plants, a movie they saw, a book they read … and it’s even better when you share a passion with that person.
Get me talking about football; get me talking about movies; get me talking about music. I’ll get fired up with you–we’ll talk for hours. And yes … talk to me about the Bible and we’ll talk for hours.
My faith is something that I’m passionate about. I’m not going to argue, I dont have an agenda to coerce you to believe as I do, but it’s bound to come up b/c it’s something I’m passionate about. I wont apologize. It wont slip. My faith floats seemlessly in and out of conversations b/c it’s a part of my life, just as being from Cincinnati is a part of my life. If you talk to me long enough you’re bound to hear about the parable of the sower, of Jacob wrestling with the angel, the time we all packed into my friend’s basement in front of her big screen television, watching the Reds win the World–the eighty-eight Super Bowl, when Montana broke our hearts–and how Jesus Christ saved my life.
Go Gators?
I’m not a Florida fan nor a devotee of the SEC. I’m a Big Ten man, Bucks first, but I gotta root for Tim Tebow. Truth is, the Jets should’ve waited it out, went another average season and waited for Tebow, rather than trade up this year for Sanchez. Why? Character. I admire the returning Florida quarterback simply because he doesnt shy away from talking about his faith. If it comes up, he talks about it. He ends postgame conferences with “God bless.” And he doesnt shy away from talking about it.
Good example for us all. Whatever yr passion–especially that for yr faith, if you claim to have it–share it. Dont just talk about it, shout about it. Get fired up. Be contagious.
If someone can convince me that hockey is the most awesome sport b/c of their passion, maybe I can convince them to spend a Saturday afternoon watching the silver-helmet throng emerge from the tunnel of the horseshoe as the tuba dots the eye. And maybe I can convince them that being a Christian is worth getting fired up about.
Tebow embraces spotlight, chance to share faith – College Football – Rivals.com.
Really dont have time this AM to blog, but ran across this in my daily news updates. You just gotta love how churches just come together sometimes … though, I’m guessing there are better stands to take than to oppose the evils of speeding tickets. I mean, the last speeding ticket I got was two years ago–the week of my ordination none the less–and no-one took a can of mace for me!
Cops zap pastor protesting traffic stop at church – Yahoo! News.
Acts 7.30-43
Be wary of idols.
American Idols. Sports Idols. Music Idols.
The word idol has taken on a different meaning these days, and idolatry is not all that bad, not in some ways, as long as Simon Cowell isnt involved.
We idolize those people we look up to, admire, and aspire to parallel in some way.
Michael Jackson back in the day when we were growing up. We all idolized him for being a pioneer, more than anything. Though he didnt of late give us much idol worthy–in fact, he became a parody of himself, the dark side of fame, a moral warning sign saying, “Warning.”
But when I was in the fourth grade, one evening watching a tribute to Motown–Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Four Tops–a single figure stood on the stage. One man, no band, putting a hat on his head and the rest was history–one of those landmark moments in entertainment where a step is taken leaving others on a whole different stairwell.
The next year was all about Thriller. We lip-sanc to it; air-guitared the solo to Billie Jean w/ tennis rackets and wiffle-ball bats; and watched the zombies dance over and over and over again. It was a rite of passage, a threshold moment for our lives and the life of music.
Indeed, Michael Jackson was an idol, and worthy of idolization. Not for the fame, the money, the extrencities, but for doing his own thing, having a vision that would change the world of music forever, bridging the gap and blurring the lines between what popular music really was.
No one will ever be able to command the attentions of millions on a stage by himself like he captivated us that night so long ago.
Idols though have their other aspects, NOT to idolize. Letting the pursuit and the success take your soul. Dangling children off balconies. But to aspire in some way to do something that changes the world, for the better.
And indeed, Michael Jackson did that. He left behind an album by which my generation will always remember our childhood: first kisses, secret clubs you could only join if you knew Vincent Price’s monologue, before MTV killed the video star.
Be wary of idols. They are fragile. Imperfect. And limited.
As we all seem to be tracking the cargo ship as it nears Myanmar around the 59th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War that ended in a truce, I thought this was interesting. As we talk about the possible threat of nuclear war and revisit old fears that used to have students dive under desks at school, the article below shows the threat under which some people are already living.
Aid Group Exposes Myanmar State Violence Against Christian Minority | Christianpost.com.
