Interesting stuff...maybe?

The rest of my week went by pretty well. Doing homework late at night or in the morning, not reading the last 2 assignments for my Egypt class and Computer Science class, and none of that stuff being discussed in class is awesome. Also, the paragraphs I've been writing for class have actually been pretty good. I've impressed myself a few times, and thought "I didn't write that." Also, there's a balcony on our floor that we can't get to because someone lit a fire out there months ago, and there's a balcony floor above that where the railing isn't safe. Well, we were able to get the door open to get out there. It wasn't easy, but we did it, and we're hoping we can be allowed to go out there. For the time being, we're not saying anything about it.

I realized this week that if I did drugs, I'd be the worst drug addict ever. I had like 12 things of Fla-Vor Ice popsicle things at a pool party for one of my classes. There were also Nacho Cheese Doritos, and I had about half a bag. I had half a bag of bbq chips last night. Yes, I know I don't always eat healthy, but I can't stop myself. That's why if I started doing something seriously addicting, I'd be done for. Note to self, don't do drugs.

Now on to some serious stuff. I conducted an experiment this week. It's not very complete, and I'm not sure if I want to keep doing it or not. I decided to not say hi to just about everyone online, and see how many people would talk to me. It was no surprise that few people talked to me. A week is not long enough to get accurate data, because there are also times when too many people say hi to me, but it was interesting to see how many people would say hi, who, and when. Friday night seems to be the night when people want to talk. Most of the people that said hi tonight would rather wait all week to tell you everything at once rather than talk through the week, when you can remember more details. That wasn't meant as an insult, but its a lot easier to tell someone something when it happened that day, or a few days ago. Do I remember anything that happened Monday? No. That's why I try to talk to people during the week, so that I can remember stuff like that.

Right now I'm not sure if I want to stay offline for a while and not have to worry about people, or go back to relying on talking to people online to make me feel better. I'm nothing without my friends, and I hate to have to rely on them to the extent I do. I might seem to have my priorities messed up, worrying about if people say hi to me online or not, but here at college, I'm surrounded by worldly people, and when I talk to people, especially church people online, I expect good things from them. Whether you talked to me this week or not, don't worry. Also, if you feel that any of what I said applies to you, I don't want you to start talking to me every chance you get. Be who you are, don't change because I post about people not saying hi to me first. In just about everything in life that I can think of right now, we must change because we want to or have to. To make someone happy and not feel guilty is no reason to change. To want to make someone happy because you want them to be happy is the best reason in the world.

Once again, I feel like I'm accusing people and making a social commentary, but I'm pointing out some generalities I see with people in and out of the church. If we don't act differently than the world, how can we really prove that we're different? Because we go to a different kind of church with our parents? By not going out with friends Friday night, does that really make us lights to the world? Even the little things, and sometimes especially the little things make a difference. What other things in our life, besides how we talk to people online, do we not do differently than the world? What things can we change to make us better people, and show others that we're not like people in the world?

The things that have upset me about how people act online are only part of the problem. At camp, it's not uncommon for people to show how or talk about the worldly things they do, like they're things to brag about. I did it this past year too, and it upsets me. We don't brag about the good things we do; God does the bragging for us by blessing us or building our character. So why are we bragging about the worldly things we've done? Because we like the world, and we like to emulate it and show that we're emulating it. We must change that about ourselves because we want to and have to.

Be wary of the little things and the big things you do. What messages are we sending by the things we do and say? Do we show that we're empathetic online? Do we show that we're empathetic in person? Do we talk to others online to find out how they're doing, to talk to someone you haven't talked to in a while, or just to tell them how good your week was? Is the way we talk online just a mirror of other parts of our life that are worldly? A little leavening can leaven the whole lump in ways we might not imagine.

I went from social commentary to rant mode to pretty much a sermon. This was not to put people down, to make them feel bad, or exalt myself. There were some things that I felt needed to be said. Other things I thought should be pointed out in this context, to make us look at ourselves. We say we're going to examine ourselves, but how often do we? What areas of our life do we examine? What areas do we wait to examine later, but never get to? What simple things can we do to make our lives and other people's lives better? Truly think about these things, act upon them.