Social Networks. How social are they?

Happy new year all you people! I hope all your Christmases were Merry and your new years were happy!

It struck me while I was at home over the Holidays just how much I was on things like Facebook and how much I wasn’t actually going out and seeing people. It may have something to do with how it is while I am here in Uffculme. None of my friends live anywhere near here and there is very little to do in Uffculme itself so when I have free time I just sit, watch a few films and chat to people on Facebook. How dull is that?!

One morning while Vicki and I were sat upstairs in square corner we started chatting using Facebook chat. This was funny to start with, but then we stopped talking all together and just used Facebook chat. This went on for about 10 minutes before it actually struck me. Is this what is happening to society? And then I sneezed and we started actually talking again. And then I wondered, does the world need to sneeze before we start being humans again? And what will this sneeze be?

I remember when my age was still in single figures (which is a surprise because I can’t remember what I had for tea 2 days ago!) and people actually had to speak to each other if the wanted to communicate. Whether that be face to face or on the phone. Sometimes people would write a letter or, on the odd occasion, they might write an email. But mostly people would actually talk to each other with spoken words. This meant that people had an excuse to meet up with other people. Children, who weren’t allowed to send emails or use the phone unattended would knock on their friend’s door to see if they were free. People would actually go outside. Times seem to have changed dramatically.

Since the internet introduced “Social Networking” it has been increasingly unnecessary to actually converse. People just sit in front of their computer and type out words and sends them via the internet to other people who are sat in front of their computers. It got even worse when Facebook introduced a chat function. There were evenings where I would just sit and chat to people on facebook for literally hours.

Ok, so it seems like I’m having a go at facebook alone, but there are other social networks about. When I was in year 7 it was all about Bebo. There’s twitter, tumblr and all sorts of others.

Having said all of that, social networks are some of the best ways of communicating with people without texting or calling them. Its free, most people check it at least once every few days. You can share photos with people who would otherwise not see them. So under no circumstances am I saying that social networks are bad things but I think that people are using it to too great an extent.

Remember that sneeze I mentioned? It could be coming. SOPA. The governmental bill in America that could essentially end Facebook, youtube, twitter and a lot of others. Could this be the sneeze we need to get us back into the real world? It’d be pretty dramatic if it was. Going from everyone being on Facebook and using it to organise everything, to  suddenly having to remember how to write letters and ring people up! From everyone knowing what is going on because it’s on youtube to having to actually watch the news! It’ll be a shock to the system if it happens. I don’t know if I’m for it or against it. Social networks are over used, but there is a lot of opportunities to used within it!

So there is a challenge. How sociable are we being on our Social Networking sites? Food for thought!

Why do I celebrate Christmas???

As the title suggests, I am questioning my motives for celebrating Christmas. Why in the world do I it?  What ARE my motives for it all?

When I was little it was all about the presents! I would imagine that for most children up to the age about 11 its the same. I don’t remember this, but every Christmas my Mumsie reminds me of one Christmas when I was about 6. I wanted a Buzz Lightyear action figure. I really, REALLY wanted it. When we got to that part of the morning where we, as a family, tore into the presents, I said “Where is my Buzz?” Apparently this happened. I have no proof because it wasn’t filmed and I don’t remember it. So when I was little, I wanted presents for Christmas.

When I got to about the age of 11 or 12, I realised how much I love seeing all my family at Christmas time. Apart from the people who live in America (and sometimes those who are visiting them), I see literally all of my family around Christmas and New Year and I LOVE it! I see them a few times through the year but seeing them all in the space of about 2 weeks makes me happy.

But this year a number of things have added up and I am beginning to rethink why I love Christmas so much. Firstly, having moved out and being responsible for buying and organising myself for Christmas means I have been getting caught up in the “OH MY GOODNESS I HAVEN’T GOTTEN MYSELF ORGANISED EARLY ENOUGH AND NOW I AM STRESSING!!!!” mentality. Secondly, working for a Church means that I have been getting caught up in the preparations for Christmas that goes on in advent. And finally, hearing everyone else going “I am not ready for Christmas. Things to buy, people to see, things to decorate, things to wrap…etc”. All these things have just got  me thinking.

What is the point of Christmas? I have been going to Church since I was 8 days old so I know that it’s all about the Birth of Jesus. But if that’s the case, why in the world is that not my focus? C.S. Lewis once said, “If God doesn’t exist then it doesn’t matter, but if He does then it is of the utmost importance.” The same could be said of Christmas. If Christmas is about the birth of Christ, then shouldn’t that actually be the focus?

It struck me in a prayer meeting this week that Christmas is like the conventional idea of the Birthday whereby you give gifts to the person whose birthday it is but turned on its head. You give gifts to everyone. But most people don’t give anything, not even a thought, to the person whose Birthday it is they are Celebrating. What is the point of Christmas with out Christ? You just end up with “mas” which, when searched for on google, comes up with Malaysian Airlines! I know that the Christmas festival was actually nicked from the pagans because so many of them were becoming Christians. So if you’re argument is that “Well it’s not really your festival anyway” then my response would be “Well if you aren’t a pagan either, then my point still stands.” I feel we are missing the point of Christmas.

This is a link to a song written and performed by Kutless called “This is Christmas” and I think it addresses this quite well! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20HoJZecNqM

Enjoy! And God bless you all this Christmas time!

All change! Really?

This is a copy of a post I posted on my personal blog a few days before I came here to Uffculme.

I started thinking about this late at night (which seems to be where most of my decent thinking happens) and originally the subject was going to be how I’m moving out in a few days which is scary and there is going to be a lot of change from now on. And then I remembered something that a friend of mine had said earlier that day. “Everything changes, that is the only constant.” This got me thinking. What can we rely on if our only constant in this world is that everything changes?

One major change I am going to face in the very near future (as I mentioned earlier) is that I’m going to be moving out and starting a new chapter of my life story. I’m going to do a course in youth Ministry (which I think I mentioned in my previous post. I forget). This involves work. Actual work on paper (or a screen and then paper). If I remember what I was told, I get an assignment a month. Not only that but I will be working with 2-3 churches and their youth. I will also more than likely be working in the secondary school in the village I’ll be living in. Oh and I was told that the music co-ordinator is leaving to go into ministry as I start so I may well be getting stuck in to music. So I’ll be a very busy person. Which is a MASSIVE change from my current normality considering that I have never really done any of those things much before. Also, so far today I have been on Facebook, Skype and I have baked a cake and some flapjacks. Other than that, nothing. Not a busy day. So this new chapter of fun is going to be a change to get used to. Did I mention that I’m actually moving out to do this? Never done that before either.

Thinking about worldly change, the seasons in Britain are a little messed up. I remember when I was little that Summer was warm and dry, Autumn was colourful and cold and wet, Winter was very cold and very wet and Spring was cool and often wet and brightly coloured. But it seems that someone broke the season machine. Summer is warm, cold, wet and dry, Autumn is wet and brown, Winter is wet, really cold and a bit more wet and Spring is Warm. I got sunburnt in April this year! Early April at that! The current Summer makes camping a struggle. In 2009, we were in a tent in Wales and we got hit by the tail end of a Hurricane. Only a one pole actually broke though which was a relief having watched tents break and saved a number of people from breaking tents.

The school curriculum is always changing. Characters in TV series’ are leaving to join a musical and someone else comes to take their place. Clothing styles seem to change each week. You get the picture. Lots of things change. As a species, humans don’t always cope well with change. We like to feel like we’re in control. But we aren’t. So what do we hold onto? What is our constant that we can firmly put our foundations in?

Lets think back now to a story many of us were told at school as children. The story of the wise and foolish builders. The foolish guy builds his house on sand, thinking “It’ll be OK, its not as if there are going to be any storms or anything!” But he is wrong. It rains. A lot. Rivers burst their banks and simply wash his house off the sand. The wise guy thinks “I know that rock is a good thing to stick foundations in so I will put in the hard work of digging them so that if, by some twist of fate, there is a storm I won’t be washed away!” So he does. He digs some good foundations in some good, sturdy rock and when the storm comes, the rivers burst their banks and batter at his house, it stays put.

Those guys went through change. The weather changed. Dramatically. Sometimes in life, the weather can change. That can be moving house, moving school, moving job, losing a close friend or member of the family or an addition to the family. All of those things can make life harder and sometimes those things can seem like they are trying to wash us away. That story in the previous paragraph is from the Bible. Matthew 7:24-27 if you want to read it. If we base our lives on the Jesus we see in the Bible, the Jesus we can meet for ourselves, the Jesus who cares so much for us that He died and defeated death by back up again, the Jesus whose love is constant, then we won’t get washed away by a change in the weather.

The beginning of a new Chapter!

Well here I am, telling you about my life.

As you will have noticed, I have started in youth Ministry. Woop! I have been here for about 6 weeks! I moved into my digs on Saturday 17th of September and Sunday I went to two church services at two churches and a youth event in the evening in a shop in the village square. Hectic, huh? Well all of the week following I helped out with the local secondary school’s year 7 team-building days. The teachers only did one or two days max. I did all 5 and I have never been more tired in my LIFE. ALL OF IT.

So I have started, but I will always remember what has led me to this point. Considering I will more than likely be telling you stuff about what I’m doing, I am going to give the story of the build up to this point so that you get the full picture.

This is a journey that started on April 4th 2010, the date of my Baptism. My baptism verse was Jeremiah 29:11 (this will become important later).  ”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” For the four days after my baptism my church was running a kids holiday club with a superhero theme. I did get to dress up as a superhero, tights and all. It was during this week of hilarity, I started to feel quite passionate about spreading the love of Jesus to young people. It was a passion that had never really been there before. I had always thought that it was a really good thing to do, but I wanted to be a primary school teacher (Couldn’t tell you why). All of a sudden I had a burning desire to give as many young people as possible the opportunity to hear the gospel. I was jolly confused.

So about a week later I went to my youth pastor with my friend who had been feeling the same thing, and we asked him about it. He said that, almost without a doubt, we had been called into ministry. All of a sudden, Jeremiah 29:11 popped into my head. It was as if God was saying, “Oi you! I have plans for you. Go find them!” So I left it for a while. I didn’t tell my parents for AGES. I told my christian friends before I told my parents. Mostly because I wasn’t sure their reaction was going to be what I wanted, and I wasn’t wrong. “Ok, but we think you should go to uni first.” I knew that “we think”  meant “we expect”. I also knew that if I went to uni, I would lose my passion. So I kept thinking and praying about it.

It was later in the year when the next bit happened. Open Doors were doing a dramatic representation of some testimonies from people in Asia and my Grandparents came with some friends to see it. After the show (which was really good) they all came back to my parents house for tea and biccies. We casually discussing stuff and we managed to start talking about my call to youth Ministries. One of the friends of my Grapes, said “Have you ever heard of an organisation called SWYM?” To begin with I thought, “But I don’t want to do swimming!” but I said that I hadn’t heard of them so the explained to the me that SWYM stands for South West Youth Ministries and that the run courses to train people in youth ministry. I was immediately intrigued.  I looked them up the next day and that pretty much decided it. I wanted to work with youth and I wanted to be trained by SWYM.

Again, I left it about a week. I knew I wanted to do it, but I also knew that I guess I ought to discuss it with someone first. Then I discovered that there was an “I’m interested” form that I could fill in on their website. I was more than interested so I filled it in. The next day, while sat in a music practice room at school doing not a lot, I got a phone call from a guy called Paul Friend (who I later discovered is the director of SWYM) who asked me a whole bunch of questions about some of the stuff I’d put down in the form like my feeling of call and how I came to know about SWYM. I was absolutely decided now. SWYM was right. That’s where I was going.

So, typically, I left it a few weeks and kept looking at the courses they were offering and saying to myself, “I want to apply! But I really gotta discuss this with Mum and Dad…” Thankfully, by this point I had told them that I had filled in a form for SWYM and Paul had called me and was really enthusiastic about me joining. They were still dubious. Due to their dubious-ness, I was reluctant to bring it up, knowing that I was probably going to be told that I ought to go to uni first to get the experience and something to fall back on if I’m wrong (which I knew I wasn’t because God had been flicking me in the back of the head with Jeremiah 29:11 to the point that 2911 was the code to unlock my phone.). But one day, I was on the SWYM website and I thought to myself, “I’m going to have a look at their application form and see what kind of things I’m to have to fill in.” So I did, but to see more things, I had to fill stuff in. I did. It got to a point where they asked a question that required a lot of writing to answer and I couldn’t be bothered to fill it in so I gave up for the night.

About 2 days later I got an email from SWYM saying, “We’ve noticed that you’ve started to fill in an application form. Would you like to complete it for us?” My brain automatically went “Blaaaaaurgh! I didn’t even send it off! Oh well. I’ll finish it.” So I did. Sent it off and everything. And then I had that little niggle in the back of my brain that kept niggling until it started to nibble. I really, really, REALLY needed to tell Mum and Dad. It took me a few days to get the confidence but then it all finally came out. “I STARTED TO FILL IN AN APPLICATION FORM AND THEY EMAILED ME TO ASK ME TO FINISH IT SO I DID SO I’VE APPLIED AND SENT IT OFF AND APPLIED.” <wince> The response was not at all what I expected. “Okay. We’re still think you should go to uni first but maybe you can show us the courses and stuff online and we’ll think about it.” I was in a state that most scientists call “Shock.” They were completely averted to the idea of me going into ministry. Nor were they angry that I had applied without me asking first.

Having shown them the logistical things, they started to come around to the idea and within about a week I’d had a call asking me whether I’d like to come to a conference (which is a thing they do every 6 weeks or so where everyone meets up for lectures, worship and general togetherness). Being me, I said yes without a second thought, only to have to explain it to my parents, and then my school. The school let me have the necessary four days off and I went to the October conference and that settled it. On first night of being there we had a time of worship and ministry and someone came to me with a word from God. He said that God was telling him to tell me that SWYM was right for me and I was right for SWYM. I was somewhat overawed by it and didn’t really say much in response. Later that night I went up to my dorm to read my Bible. I know that people will say its a coincidence but as I opened my Bible, the first page that opened was in Jeremiah. I looked down the page and there it was. Jeremiah 29:11  “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” (Message) That was it. I’d decided. Well actually it had been decided for me. I was going to work with SWYM and I am going to bring the love of Jesus to young people.