Holster your Tweeter

I am back.

No, this is not Michael Jeffery Jordan - His Airness - this is me, Adam Fox.

I liked my first offering, a way for me to express my opinion as the youth director at First Baptist Church in Lockport. Hopefully, soon with the title - youth pastor. A guy can dream...

But what I was thinking about today is Christians on Social media. I follow a lot of Christian organizations and causes on Facebook like Child Evangelism or Geeks Under Grace to name some. But Facebook is stale, and like the little children we are we move on to the next trend. And that was Twitter.
Twitter is where Christians have taken root. There are Christians like myself who use twitter, and then there are Christian personalities. I follow a few anonymous Christians like Rev No Respect, Church Curmudgeon, Hipster Jesus, Angry Youth Pastor, Jesus is a Jerk, Back Row Believer, Rev. Brian Williams.... the list gets long. You can find a parody of any denomination or person in the church.
Why are we using these? Because we can post something onto an account like this and it is anonymous. We are free to speak are mind, say what we want, talk about who we want without the ramifications of a direct conversation or for the sake of comedy.
While I am not going to lie, you can look at my time line and it is filled with retweets from these people that make me laugh.
But at the same time I think we as a culture have a problem. We are afraid to talk out our problems. Instead we are hiding behind a 140 characters.
When we have a problem with another believer the Bible tells us to go to the person directly. Matthew 18 tells us to go talk to the person privately to correct the problem or incident - not gossip about it, or take it to the internet.
Rumors, gossip, and the like kill churches. We focus on the flaws and sins of other believers instead of what we are here for - to worship God.
Am I say stop twitter and all other social media, no. But it should be a second or third importance in times of frustration, not number 1.

Adam

First Entry

Welcome to my blog.

Thank you for coming here, to listen to my thoughts, rantings, and personal feelings. This blog is my own, and even though I am the Youth Director at First Baptists Church - this is in no way theirs. This is mine, so in some cases, I do not reflect the good people of FBCL. After all, I am a sinner saved by grace.
My goal is to publish one of these a week.
That may sound like a lot - it may become once every other week, but as for now, I am setting the standard high.

Todays thought will be short, since I am getting used to this.

Perspective.

This thought came to me a few weeks ago, when I finally caught up with a friend from Olivet who we had a falling out. But I kept pushing him until he would talk to me so we can talk out our differences. I know, me annoying? Go figure!
But this man, John (not his real name) dropped off social networks, changed his number, and did not respond to the people he had friendships with in college. He was gone.
But God works in his own time, not in the time frame we want.
John reached out to me, and sent me the longest email ever. He explained what has happened since graduation in 2012, his life, and his struggles.
John was a popular guy, and not just with us Bible nerds, the entire school loved him and knew him. And John was the type of guy who would stop and talk with you, catch up, talk sports or music in depth, anything.
He graduated, got his masters degree, and was placed as a senior pastor in a church. He made it. Accomplished his dream, the dream of so many of us, to serve God through His church.
Then things crumbled. Depression set in, divorce, thoughts of suicide.
The outgoing lovable man that I knew was gone. John was everything I wanted to be in college. And now, he is everything I do not want to happen to me.
Perspective is unique. Or you can look at it as God has a funny sense of humor.
We as sinners saved by grace, pine after what we do not have. For me, I spent years wanting to be liked, to be loved, to be as successful as John.
That was wrong.
We, I, need to trust God that He has this unique plan and timing for each of us. I may not become my ideal John, but I will become the man God is making me be.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8 NIV

There you go. One blog down. 

And please pray for John, he is still struggling with God. But his story is not done yet. God can still do amazing things through him, like He can through all of us.

www.firstbaptistchurchoflockport.com

Adam