unlimited text message plan. aka. I Thessalonians 5:17

I joined Twitter today, I did it solely based on the fact that Kurt joined and sent me an e-mail inviting me to do the same. And, I guess what I mean by that is before he could probably start...tweeting...he had to check off a bunch of names on the list of his contacts it somehow got into in order to well...proliferate the tweeting, shall we say?

Anyways, I joined because he has signed up for both gchat and skype for me, so I figured this was the least I could do.
Umm.
I might also like to see precisely how many forms of communication he and I can cover. When my phone bill took a turn for the worst, by utilizing his iPhone we were still able to Skype, e-mail, Facebook, and G-chat. I on my laptop, he on his phone. You know...the phone he can use to make phone calls...or avoid doing so by utilizing the the half dozen other ways it's capable of communicating.

heh.

So.
I can text, e-mail, message, tweet, IM, post...I'm forgetting others, I'm sure.
We have so many options to tell people what we're doing and how we're doing...I'm not even sure most of us really live THAT interesting of a life??
But, texting especially.
We all prefer it.
It's less vulnerable, it's direct, and it lets you be a little more open then you'd probably be in conversation.

So.
I thought about this communication business and then began to wonder this...


What if we could text God?


Seriously.
Think about it.

Face it, we all struggle with prayer. I don't need to tell you why, we all know why, so instead just think about it...
What if we could just text God?
A one liner to say hi, a prayer request, a question, a general update on life and what I saw just now as I got on the subway. "Hey just thinking of you, love you" "are you free tonight?" "I feel so lonely" "I'm scared, will you pray with me when you have a minute?" "Do you think I should take the job?"

Tell you what, if we could text God...He'd text back.
He'd say "I was just thinking of you too!" "I've definitely got time for you tonight!" "if you were alone, you couldn't have text messaged me! I'm not far from where you are, I'll come meet you and let's catch up" "sure, I'll call you and we can pray" "let's talk about that job, I've got an idea"

And so on.
And so forth.

I think that in a world that would rather text than call, it's no surprise that prayer is daunting. Maybe we're just a little out of practice. But (and maybe this is a little theologically risky...but maybe it's also a little culutrally relevant) I think we should try not to always treat prayer like a conversation, at least not all of it. (I mean, we have to talk to our friends SOMEtimes)...but in the meantime, we keep in touch with the little things, because we want them to know, because we know they care.
Well why should that be any different with God? A lot of the times when I think of something to tell someone, I'll do just that. I'll pull out my phone and send them a message.
My phone shoots it into space to land in someone else's inbox.
But what if I shot a little higher? What if I just directed the thought towards God instead? Not sitting down to pray, not closing my eyes, or taking the hand of the person next to me (quite frankly I use far too much public transportation for that to work out well).

Just...tell (text?) Him.


Suddently, prayer is less overwhelming. Suddenly He seems much more accessible, doesn't He? It hit me when I thought about actually texting God...but the fact is, He IS that accessible.
He is that close and He cares more than the people we love the most.

I recently had to switch my text message plan to "unlimited"...I guess you could say it's my "pray without ceasing" plan. :)


But seriously...what if we could text God?

Change means changing.

The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating — in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.

– Anne Morriss



Apparently Vail, CO is home to the more quotable of the Starbucks cups. Not that I'm proud of it, but I have taken in my fair share of soy cappucinos from this siren branded franchise and more often than not I'm not impressed. I should have known this one would be different though...any Bux in which the customers are wearing ski boots and there are more snowboards than baby carriages leaning in the corner has to have a little redemptive life to it somehow.
Regardless, Miss Morriss was my convicting quote of the week. It's true...whether or not you want to call it commitment, the simple act of making a decision puts and end to the game of possibility. It turns "what if?" into "what now?" and all of the sudden instead of thought, there is action. Something I think our culture doesn't know how not to take to extremes...that is, we're either not doing anything - or we're burning out.
I'm digressing.
Commitment.

If someone asked you what you're commited to, what would you say? Who would you name? Or would you?

What is the biggest commitment move you made? How did you make it? Why? And how did it get you where you are now?

What made you do it?

Because really, regardless of who, what, when, where, or why.
Life is gonna be what you make of it.
You'll get out what you put in.
You'll see the results of what you do, not what you want to do.
You'll know the people you talk to.
You'll arrive where you aim to go.
You'll be, who you currently are...just give it time.

And then, lets say you want to commit to something, but shy away from it.
We all do.
All.
I think it's fear of failure that keeps us from trying.
I think it's the comfort of knowing what is and the apprehension of deviation.
The thought that change...might mean changing.

And then I think this....that's so lame.
We're so lame.
We're so selfish.
So....boring.


Homework:
Who do you want to be?
In order to do so, what do you have to do?
Are you doing it?
Why?
Why not?

If there is no truly legitmate reason from stopping you...the reality is...you're the only one stopping yourself.

Stop it.
Get over yourself.
Do it.

Limitations are over rated; self inflicted ones are just weak.
But.
Commitment is liberating...
I like it.

Cheers Miss Morris, my soy chai served a purpose beyond it's intetion...and if it can do that, so can I.