Last week I started a series called “Great Reads.” I’m going to try to give you a glimpse of what I am reading online. Anyway, here are this week’s “great reads.”
In case you haven’t already heard, we’re having another baby! Nathan is going to be a brother. We went to the doctor yesterday to have a 4D ultrasound, and they told us that it’s a boy. So, we’re thinking of names and getting ready for his arrival. The due date is August 1.
Janell is feeling fine. She has been tired, but not really been very sick. Nathan is excited that there’s a baby in mommy’s belly, and he’s going to be an excellent big brother. I’m excited, too, thinking about what a privilege it is to have another child.
Today, I started teaching Youth and Family Ministry to my first year students at the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary. There are a few basic theological principles behind the class, and none is more important than the mandate that God gave Israel in Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
The Shema (click here to hear it sung), as it is known, is one of the most important Jewish prayers. It declares that there is one God, and then it goes on to talk about 3 responsibilities.
Personal Responsibility: Each person is to love God with all their heart, soul, and strength. It is a personal responsibility to have this command on our hearts. We cannot fulfill the other two responsibilities without first fulfilling this one.
Family Responsibility: We are to “impress” it on our children. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children about God. Interestingly enough, the responsibility does not fall on the church (although I believe the church helps the parents with their responsibility).
Social Responsibility: Writing them on the gates of the city is about the responsibility we have to share with the community about God.
I believe these responsibilities are in the order they are in for a reason. We cannot expect our children to love God if we do not love him. We cannot “preach” to the community if our families are not examples of loving God. There’s a lot more to be said, but it’s the basis of Youth and Family Ministry. We had a good discussion about this in class this morning.
Some of you may wonder why in the world I would post so many “mini” articles on the side of this page using twitter. But, I think it’s useful. Besides being highly addictive, twitter is a great tool that could actually be useful in life, if you use it correctly.
Here are 5 ways Twitter can be useful:
Keeps you accountable – If you use it all the time, you could use twitter to answer the question, “What are you doing?” You could use it to be accountable with a diet answering the question, “What are you eating?” Either way, twitter keeps you updated on what you are doing all the time, allowing you to evaluate your time management and other things.
Keeps you connected – If your friends are on twitter, you can stay connected with them. Your relatives, groups you are part of, etc, can all keep up with each other using twitter.
Keeps you aware – I’m going on one year of using twitter (this month), and I can look back at what I have done over the last year by looking at my tweets. The archive is a great way of looking back at your accomplishments, feelings, and relationships.
Keeps you informed – There are many news outlets on twitter. CNN breaking news, BBC, and others post news stories all the time. I subscribe to a few of these, and I get the news quickly.
Keeps you entertained – Twitter is very entertaining. It helps you break up the monotony of work. You can check it out to see some fleeting thoughts by other people. It’s a great way to see what’s happening, and it’s fun because it is always updated (when the site is working).
I also saw this post the other day about twitter and Facebook updates creating a social sixth sense. I love how it explains how we can use these things to get to know people better and to better connect with them in real life.
If you use twitter, what are your reasons? Is it useful to you?
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