Five Things I Can Do Now That I’m Facebook-Free

So we’re nearing the end of the season of Lent. Normally I don’t worry much about Lent — I didn’t grow up practicing it regularly — but this year I decided to exercise a little discipline and take it seriously.

So, like any good 22-year old, I gave up facebook.

Facebook is good for lots of things — keeping up with frienemies, playing fun games, getting exposed to ridiculously targeted ads — but it’s really amazing at providing procrastination. So of course, I gave up facebook to force me to be more productive.

But more than that, I gave up facebook because I actually use it as an opportunity to avoid interacting with people. Awkward elevator ride? Facebook’s up on my Droid. You get the idea.

So, since I’ve been off social networking for five weeks (not including those blessed Sundays), I’ve decided to share five things I can do now that I’m facebook-free.

5. Write — And I love it. I’m currently sitting at Starbucks, and I’m not stalking my ex, or my friend’s ex, or my co-worker’s ex. I’m not jealously perusing recent wedding pictures. I have no desire to poke anyone. I can actually feel my brain expanding with every work I type.

4. Enjoy My Surroundings – It’s amazing what you notice when you’re not catching up on That One Girl From High School’s baby mamma drama. I think sometimes we use social networking to create white noise in our brains, using everyone else’s lives to tune out from our own. Let’s be honest: we all know how that works out.

3. Read My Bible — No, I’m serious. I am a member of the 35% of smart phone owners who access their phone before they get out of bed. I use it to wake me up so I don’t hit the snooze button again. But now that I can’t get on facebook, I jump over to my Bible app (it’s cool! check it out! www.youversion.com) and read Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening and a section of the Bible before I get ready for the day. I even have a reading plan for Lent. Bash technology all you want — it’s giving me Jesus.

2. Keep My Thoughts to Myself — (Ok I know, that’s a little silly to put on my own blog, but work with me.) I am positive I’m not the only one who creates status updates in my head. This is an exercise in pushing down my own self-centeredness: as much as I don’t want to believe it, no one cares about what movie I watched or what I ate for dinner. And I’m not as funny as I think I am. Hopefully this will be a lesson that sticks. (But I doubt it.)

1. Interact with People — This was my primary goal, and I’m happy to say that it’s working. My closest friends know quite well that when I get uncomfortable my first instinct is to withdraw. Facebook makes it easy: I pull it up on my phone and suddenly I am too distracted to continue our conversation. But without my crutch I am forced to push through the awkwardness and be a nice person.

Character growth at its finest, people.

The First 48 Hours

Because there was a scary snowstorm coming, I left for home as soon as I could after my last final on Thursday. I went to Carrollton first to pick up Peter and got there about 8:30; Peter wasn’t done at work yet so I went and had coffee for about 30 minutes with one of my dear friends, which was really fun because I came out of nowhere and surprised her. And there was coffee involved.

We got home in North Carolina at around 1am and Dad showed us the new Xbox 360, so Peter and Dad and I prompty played Halo for an hour. I went to bed around 2:30.

I woke up around 11am to about an inch of show outside and huge fluffy snowflakes coming down. It was lovely and I relaxed around the house with the family for a while. Mom, Dad, and Peter left around 2 to get groceries, and maybe an hour after they left the power went out for good. I picked up a new book, “Infidel,” and read until it got too dark, then Vincent and I lit candles. When the parents got home we set up a heater and played Monopoly — Dad totally killed all of us. Seriously, he had hotels on the whole first half of the board.

The next morning we still had no power, so we made coffee the old-fashioned way and I settled back into my book. In the early afternoon the power finally came back on; Peter and I turned up the heat and played, I dunno, 5 hours of Halo. I feel like I need to find some high heels and a dress or something so I can prove I’m not a boy, but Peter appreciates it.

We set up the Christmas tree today, covered it in all sorts of lights and ornaments. The angel has a half inch between her head and the ceiling. I feel like we did a pretty good job of decorating.

Now we’re all settled in the living room watching football. Still not particularly girly, but I like my family anyway.

The holidays

There are a lot of reasons for loving the holidays. Let me list a few for you:

As fall descends the cold weather turns the trees the most beautiful colors of red, orange, yellow, and brown. The leaves are beautiful on the trees and even better on the ground, when Clara and I go more than slightly out of our way to step on particularly crunch-looking leaves. I love when it’s cold enough to see your breath and wear sweaters and, while I don’t actually wear scarves, I still think it’s awesome when they come out.  I love hot drinks of all kinds: coffee, tea, hot chocolate, hot apple cider.

Thanksgiving gives me the opportunity to stuff myself with delicious food after slaving over a hot oven or grill for four or five hours. More imporantly, it gives me the opportunity to hang out with family, talk to people, watch football, play video games — whatever I want, the day is mine for the enjoying. After months of hard work, it’s a day to truly rest.

As frustrating as finals are, I love when I can finally write all those theology papers I’ve been putting off. I love the research, the time spent in the library, the liberating feeling of stapling and turning in the finished product.

And after finals are over, I love the three weeks of Christmas break: long enough to enjoy my family, get some rest, and be ready for another semester. I love picking out the tree and I love how enthusiastic Peter is about decorating it. I love when Dad puts out the string of elves that ring their bells in Christmas tunes. I love the Coca Cola and M&Ms Christmas commericals that are the same every year. I love finally having to wear long johns, gloves, and hats. I absolutely adore the rare snowfall Georgia gets, and I loved it even more in Oregon when the snow would stay for forever.

I think Christmas is the best. Peter is always absolutely stoked about opening presents and it keeps us  all moving. The parades are the best ever. By that I mean, they’re really fun to keep on in the background and glance at occassionally.  The decorations for both Thanksgiving and Christmas rock: the best color combinations, of course, but my particular favorite is Mom’s habit of putting Santa Claus hats on anything and everything (the cowboy statue, the 20-year-dead deer on the wall, the plant in the corner…).

One of my current joys is delicious Starbucks coffee, brewed with cinnamon and nutmeg in with the grounds. Spec-freaking-tacular. It’s why I get up in the morning.

Finally, I love the reminder that God chose to become flesh in order to save sinners who cannot possibly save themselvse. What great love the Father gives us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are. Amen!

Ahhhhhh…

This morning, after a long and restful night’s sleep, I woke up to sun shining in my window. I took approximately 20 steps and found myself in the kitchen, where Mom was baking crumb cake muffins. I got myself some real, delicious coffee and stretched out on the couch to watch mindless TV and eat breakfast. After breakfast I settled on a channel and watched a few hours of baby and adoption stories. Eventually I got up, got ready for the day, and spent a little time in 2 Chronicles and Matthew 6.

Around lunchtime Mom and I jumped in the car, got Dad some lunch and brought it to work for him, and went to pick some stuff up at the store. Mom paid. At home she made me a sandwich and I facebooked while the sports channel played surfing and soccer. About mid-afternoon Mom went to take a nap and I went for a bike ride — only 20 minutes, but the hills in my neighborhood proved how incredibly out of shape I am.

Shortly after I finished my bike ride, Peter showed up and we played guitar and ukulele together until dinner, which my whole family (minus Vincent — no one actually knows where he is) enjoyed together, and we discussed the possibility of me actually being able to drive a car this summer (yay!). After dinner Peter and I went outside and played a little Badminton until the bugs came out and started biting, and then we went inside and watched Jeopardy while we enjoyed dessert: pudding cups.

I. Love. Summer.

News from the Home Front

I’ve been a sophomore for almost two months now and I’m happy to say I’ve learned a few new things. Let me share them with you.

1.) I’m really not much cleaner than the freshmen, I just want to think I am.

2.) Switching buildings is extremely rewarding and a good idea for nearly everyone.

3.) Taking a third semester of Greek is stupid, but you do learn a lot. And I can translate the Bible!

4.) Freshmen have WAY more energy than I do.

5.) Making awkard conversations less awkward is a learned skill and takes practice — but it’s dire.

6.) First impressions suck. I’m really not as rude or cynical as many unfortunate souls think I am.

7.) Sophomore work study and practical service positions are 1,000 times better than the freshman positions.

8.) Hall unity is really important, especially early on.

9.) Exercise is also really important. Take the stairs, lazy bums.

10.) I know what professors to take, where everything is, how to avoid things I don’t want to do, and what every hall and event is about.

What more can I say? Being a sophomore is excellent.

Things I Learned (or Suddenly Remembered) at The Edge

1. Students will complain about anything and everything.

2. The best thing to do during a long van ride is sit in the front and sleep.

3. Girls play this fun game: they ask as many questions as humanly possible in one minute, take a five-second break, and then start again. The first one to cause a counselor to pull his or her hair out wins.

4. Wayne Kerr is an amazing worship leader.

5. Slander (n) – a false and defamatory oral statement about a person

6. No matter how hard the bed is, you will sleep through the night at camp.

7. Of course, girls will do their best to destroy that sleep by knocking on your door the instant you begin dreaming.

8. One word: Dramamine.

9. The best time for a junior high girls’ small group is between the hours of 12 and 1am. No, I’m serious.

10. Watching your girls win (or even almost win) soccer, ping pong, and Edge Idol is the second best feeling in the world.

11. The best is watching them worship Jesus.

12. Junior high boys do not knock before entering a public bathroom.

13. James Stephens will carry a twelve-year-old up five flights of stairs without a second thought.

14. The smaller the girls, the more fit in an elevator. Highest I counted: 18.

15. Sometimes, farting really is the best option.

It’s ok to laugh a little

As deep-thinking Christians, we talk a lot about joy. We know that joy doesn’t necessarily include happiness; that joy is a deep-seated trust in and love for God, while happiness is just emotion. Many of would say that joy is better and even more holy than happiness.

While it’s true that joy lasts longer, leads to more trust in the Father, and is a very important attribute for any growing Christian to strive towards, I would like to argue that happiness is also very important in the lives of Christians. Because let’s face it, if you can’t delight in the little things, how are you to delight in the big things? And so, without further ado, 10 Things to Find Happiness In:

1. Play an easy, fun, and even slightly unusual game. I would suggest badminton, croquet, air hockey, or Uno.
2. Take a bubble bath. Go all out – extra bubbles, rubber duckies, battleships. Don’t forget to make the Santa Claus beard and try to make a mustache without inhaling soap.
3. Extreme, no-holds-barred finger painting. The more the merrier.
4. Host a big shindig. Whether it’s a barbeque, a pool party, or a sing-a-long, be that host that goes everywhere, talks to everyone, and ends up with more friends than he or she started with. And if it’s a pool party, make sure to have a cannonball contest.
5. Try to ride a roller coaster without laughing. If they take a picture in the middle, do something perfectly chill. Yawn, or pretend to be in the midst of a tea party with the person next to you. This would be especially interesting on the Superman.
6. Read The Chronicles of Narnia again. Seriously, those are the greatest books ever.
7. If you’re stuck at work or in class, think up the most detailed plan possible of what you would do if twenty zombies suddenly wandered into the room. Who would you send where? How would you protect yourself and others? What if you don’t have a gun, sword, or cricket bat at hand?
8. Write a limerick and recite it to a friend in whatever way you know will make that person laugh the most.
9. Perfect a silly walk (as in, from the Ministry of Silly Walks) and try it out the next time you’re in a public place with a few unwitting friends.
10. Jump on a trampoline until you’re plum wore out, then lie there and find as many shapes as possible in the clouds.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. That list is idealistic and childish and nobody actually enjoys any of it. But I tell you, when God created all those amazing things he wasn’t just thinking of kids under 10. There is nothing on that list we “adults” can’t enjoy, if only we’d stop looking around at what everyone else is doing and let go of our own restraints. It’s ok to enjoy what God created for us. Finger paint is fun AND needlessly messy; bubbles are quite possibly the coolest thing ever; and making someone else laugh gives you awesome warm fuzzies. Clouds turn into shapes because we have brains that make things, change things, and process things into more cool things. A cloud can, in fact, be both a cloud and a giraffe at the same time, because the brains God gave us really are that cool. So, for just a few minutes, stop being such a stuck-up “adult” and remember why all those things were cool in 2nd grade.