Saturday, September 01, 2012

Things I Learned in my Month Being “Unplugged” This Year

Every August I’ve repeated the practice of ‘unplugging’ from television and electronic media. This year I indulged in a little bit of the Olympic games coverage, but other than that, no TV, very ,very little personal email and absolutely no Facebook.

I’ve enjoyed my time not doing those things and spending some extra time doing other things. Below are what I’ve gleaned from it.

1600 emails still in my inbox are too many.

My kids still want me to jump on the trampoline with them sometimes.

There is an epidemic of people in the Church that suffer from what one called “Jesus Deficit Disorder”

In Genesis there was a river with a tree by it that marked the beginning of the downfall.

In Revelation there was a river with a tree by it that marked the end of the downfall.

In the book of Genesis there is a couple that, when they ate, they knew they sinned.

In the book of Luke there is a couple that when they ate, they knew the sin issue was taken care of.

Life throws you curve balls but home runs are still hit off curve balls.

Reading the letters of Paul in the order they were written changes everything.

Smart phones really do alienate people when not used at appropriate times. Really.

The real drought in the Church today is not leaders but rather, followers.

In Genesis at the first creation, the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the earth looking for a place to dwell. Later in Genesis at the re-creation, Noah released a dove and it hovered over the earth looking for a place to dwell. In John, when Jesus was baptized and made a new creation, the Spirit of the Lord descended upon Christ in the form of a dove. Bottom line, God is looking for a place to dwell. It’s in us!

Singed hair on a forearm eventually grows back.

Even after a couple of decades, there is still water to draw in the well of a friendship.