Notify Facebook or Facebook Identity

Posted on by Jason

I’ve always been a fan of Facebook and what it allows us to do with communication and staying connected with others. But like everything there are aspects that I really don’t like about it. I’m assuming that everyone reading probably has a Facebook account but I’m going to explain it anyways. At the top of the Facebook window you have three little icons . The first one looks like a small person, this is the friend request icon, it notifies you on who wants to be your friend. Beside that one is a speech bubble looking icon or the message icon which, works similar to an email. And beside that one is the sign post which, which is the notification icon which, allows you to know who has said something on your account. All of these help greatly with navigation. They help to let the user know if someone has sent them anything or has written on your profile.

Now what I don’t like about these. When someone sends you something you get a bright red circle beside the icon that you received something from. The little number inside tells you how many people sent you something. I love when those red circles show up, they make me feel good. They help me to realize that people do care. But when you click on those buttons those red circles and numbers go away. And with that I am left feeling unsatisfied with what has happened. Maybe someone sent you something that you didn’t care about or even worse you don’t receive something that you were expecting. This navigational design make Facebook feel like High school all over again. Seeing what you’ve been invited to or who wants to talk to you. I know that Facebook doesn’t add any worth but it makes us feel good to be popular even if it’s over some new technological system. This shouldn’t be the way that we receive our worth. This may be stupid but, if this is how one person feels than others probably view this in a similar way. When I receive these red icons I feel good when I first see all the numbers and love, but quickly after I feel no better than I did before I even looked. How do we find satisfaction? Where do we look? I know that it’s not in the realm of Facebook.

We should be finding our satisfaction in something or someone that can truly satisfy. I find my satisfaction not on Facebook but, when I do something good, doing the right thing and following God and His ways. When I work at camp, which is a Christian camp, I feel the most satisfied with what I’m doing and up there I don’t check my Facebook. When you are doing God’s will you are satisfied, it may be hard at some points but, God will help you get through it. True satisfaction doesn’t exist outside of God. Worldly satisfaction will fade. So what am I saying? I’m not saying delete your Facebook accounts unless that’s what you feel God is calling you to do. But, stop letting things of this world define your worth. You are valued by God. When we follow Him we are satisfied. Listen for His call and obey when He does. Step away from this computerized life and see how much God truly loves you.

Sixes and Ones

Posted on by Jason

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Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about life. Not anything really specific about life but life as a whole. Think about it, we are born, then we live 60-70 possibly all the way up to 100 and then what? We die and our bodies then go back to the earth where they once came from.

 

I’m a big fan of country music and one of the bands I like named Sugarland had a song that one of the lyrics goes “The first and last breath don’t matter, its all the ones in between.” I love the visual of that. So what do we do about this? Do we just go by, vacantly trying to just breeze through life without putting any forth any effort? Or do grab life by the hornsand try to live to the fullest. We have been placed on this earth for so much more then we think. Our life on this earth is so much less than what Heaven will be like. Think about eternity. How long does that word make you think? God has created us to do something with our lives. Think about this life and compare it to how long eternity is. This life is so short. We need to use this short time we have to do great things for God. He createdus to make a difference. Don’t think that God will just leave and make you do it all on your own. God will helpyou to accomplish all the things are in line with His plan. God has given you talents and passions. Use these to glorify God, don’t waste this klife. We get only one chance on this planet. Live, just live. Take chances on your passions. Don’t let opportunities pass you by. Be a participant in your own life, don’t be a spectator.

 

Sixes and ones? Some one told me what’s the different between a life with Christ and without. It’s simple but profound. With God, we can do anything. Eternity is a long time, don’t regret your life on this planet. Live this life. We only get one. When you accept Christ than your life is a six with a start and finish but then a continual life after the start and finish. A life without Christ is a one, where all there is is a start and finish.

Who’s your superhero of choice?

Posted on by Jason

This story is going to be slightly different from the rest but I think this is something worth talking about. Let me start off by saying that “I love superhero movies”, I mean what guy doesn’t? When I was younger I always wished I could have super powers, I would think to myself “if only I was to get bitten by a radio active spider then…” But, unfortunately I am no mutant or anything of the sort.

Recently the new X-Men movie came out, “X-Men: First Class”. If you haven’t already seen it than you should. This movie does a great job of giving background information on the other movies and stays more true to the comics. I love all the X-Men movies and after watching each one I would envision myself taking on a mutation like Wolverines. Anyway I am going to talk about something that may sound a little far fetched but I think this will help to illustrate the message more clearly. You’ll understand better after my explanation.

In the movie there is a scene where the X-Men are at a lab and they’re working on finding more mutants to add to their team. So the way they did this was by hooking Dr. Xavier up to a giant radial dish and asking him to look around to sense other mutants. Now Dr. Xavier is telekinetic and is able to read peoples thoughts and minds. The scene was set up so the audience could see through Dr. Xavier’s eyes. What you see are these shadowy figures that can barely be made out but mutants are a different colour then the rest of the figures so they are more easily spotted.

Now how does this tie into Christianity? The way I see it is these mutants who show up as different colours are like people who have excepted Christ and the others are people who haven’t. The mist that floats around the figures is like the Holy Spirit trying to help people and allow them to experience God in a different way. This may sound strange but, I see Dr. Xavier as a metaphor for God and he is looking deep into our souls to see the Holy Spirit at work. I’m not saying we as Christians are mutation but with the Holy Spirit and God we can to all things.

This ties back to how much I would like to be a superhero. Well maybe becoming a superhero is easier than we all dreamed about. A superhero isn’t defined by the costume they wear or by their powers or abilities but by what they have inside. With the Holy Spirit inside each of us we become people who want to do right and make a difference in this world. And if being a superhero is based on how much power and strength we have, then why wouldn’t we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and have God help to fight for us.

Love, Life & Movies

Posted on by Jason

To me relationships confuse the heck out of me. I guess I feel as though I just don’t quite figure them out. This isn’t a story about all my friendships but, it’s about relationships in the romantic sense. I fell like I’ve put myself in this difficult spot. When I was younger I watched tons of movies and shows, well I still do. But I watch more movies than I do tv shows. I’ve become so used to watching shows and realizing that that is what I want my life to be like. I really like chick flicks and this would probably throw you off if you were to see me but, I do. I don’t know what it is about them. I just love how love always wins. So what does this mean for me? My life and love life are nothing like anything that happens in the movies. Sweeping a girl of her feet is something that is far off in the distance. I know all I want is what everyone else wants, and that’s to be told that we are loved and be able to feel it for ourselves.

This is the one thing about God that I have trouble with. This whole having faith in God’s love is almost like something from the movies. It seems strange to have such great love in something that we can’t even see or feel. But, I guess having faith in God wouldn’t be faith if we were able to see and touch Him all the time. I guess all we can do is to keep our faith alive in God’s love. We need to have faith in God and faith that we will find the person we will share the rest of our life with. All we can do is believe that God has everything planned out for us. There is someone out there for everyone. We need to start with God first and see what happens and who God puts in our lives. I believe that God will place the perfect person in your life. God will love us through our friends and family. We need to look a lot closer to where our love comes from. People who are placed in our lives love us. They wouldn’t have been placed in our lives unless there was a reason. God’s love flows through everyone. Know that God is love and will continue to love us since we are His and He has created each and everyone of us. We need to realize that our lives are like a movie and God is directing us each step of the way.

Finding Yourself

Posted on by Jason

I’ve never been a social person. I have lots of friends, don’t get me wrong, but thinking back I try to remember how we even became friends in the first place. When we were younger we just kinda got along. There were no introductions between each other, just an attempt to play. Once and only when you were allowed to play you then became friends. I love how kids never really have conversations with each other. Kids are all business they get right down to it, which is normally deciding who’s going to be it for whatever game they are playing. Making friends never really got hard in grade school due to the fact that are parents would throw us parties and all we had to do was give them the names of the people coming and then hand out the invitations once we got to school. I’m realizing now as I’m writing this that until we get into our teens we never really have meaningful discussions with are friends. As a young boy the deepest I ever got was discussing who would win between Superman and Spider-man. (Actually thinking about that I still discuss that along with other things. More deep things.) For instance when I was in grade six I had my first “Girlfriend.” I think we first met in gym class but, between that and us becoming a couple there weren’t really any conversations in between. We were inseparable. While being glued together we said absolutely nothing. This was the track of that relationship. Always being together but, never really conversing. I would go home at nights when my parents would ask me “what my girlfriends parents did.” I would always answer “I don’t know.” They would then ask if I knew anything about this girl. Between grade 6 to 9 nothing really changed in discussions between both friends and “girlfriends.”

Then came high school and college where things started to get tricky. These are the years when you actually need to talk and converse. Being both shy and without practice made it difficult making friends. It’s taken numerous tries and failures but, I finally feel comfortable with handling my own conversation. I’ve come to this realization through becoming okay with who I am. I’ve be bullied, I’ve made mistakes but, the one thing that brings me back to who I am is the fact that God took the time to create me just the way I am. I may not be perfect but, I was created by God who is perfect. Sure sometimes we may not be viewed as perfect but, he has told us that he will never leave our side, even when we may falter and fall. With God in charge I know that I am in good hands. Whoever is able to accept Jesus as the Christ acknowledges the fact that they will never go without a friend again. God never leaves us. We need to accept God as our creator, saviour and friend. No matter who you are, whether you are a jock, popular, smart, good-looking or bullied God made each one of us so we can glorify Him through each and every one of our lives.

Riding the Rails

Posted on by Jason

Currently I am in college and go to Humber College in Toronto. Toronto is a great place to live, everything is so accessible for us, for the most part. I still live at home with my parents in the same house I grew up in, it’s a great house in a great location if you ever need to get to downtown Toronto. But the main issue is for me is that I don’t go downtown for school, where the majority of universities and colleges are. I get to go down to the downtown core on the subway and then go right past it. I get to go past it and head toward Etobicoke. Don’t get me wrong I love my school, but the location isn’t the greatest for me. It’s what I get for saving money for when I actually move out. Anyways, I get to take the subway for three glorious hours each day. Three hours to listen to music, three hours to read, three hours to… you get the point. One of my biggest pet peeves with public transit are the people. Especially the one’s who decide to grab a seat right next to you and snuggle up. I might not have such a huge issue with this if I was a small person. That’s not the case. I’m a big guy measuring six foot three and weighing over 200 pounds. So getting squished between a small Asian man into the side of the car is a common occurrence.

I know that I just went through this whole rant about sitting in a cramped seat but maybe it was all for a reason. For one I would have never been able to reflect or even write about this situation if it never happened. Maybe me being squished was because someone wanted to explain something. I bet that you have heard the saying “all things happen for a reason.” I absolutely believe this statement. Some of you may say it’s Karma or a coincidence, but for myself I don’t believe in either one of these things. I believe that God sets these small little things for us to experience and learn. I believe in this instance of being stuck beside someone was set up by God. He did this so that I would learn how I should really feel and act. While sitting there God gave me a nudge, or maybe it was the Asian man beside me, while I was frustrated with having no room. A thought came to me and said “what if this was Jesus?” How would I feel if it truly was Him? Would I feel and think the same way? Probably not. This experience helped me to remember that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. Jesus is as much inside of you as much as He is inside of anyone else. This is something that we need to remember. Let’s remember that we are God’s and He is in me as much as He is inside of you. So the next time someone invades your personal space on the train, remember to relax and enjoy the ride.

Life Stages

Posted on by Jason

Death is something that doesn’t scare me. But, there are few things that do. Whenever my birthday comes around I am both happy and upset at the same time. Not because I’m closer to death but, because I am closer to becoming old, and with that comes more responsibility. Not that I am not responsible or I lack the ability to be. The fear is just not knowing what stages are going to happen in my life. I’m 20 and frankly I don’t really want to be worrying about the things that continually creep up like paying bills, finding a job or buying a house. The different stages of life are crazy, with each one becoming more responsible. I remember back in the good old days when I would just play and play and play all day long. When I was that age I wanted to grow up so badly, and now look at me I’m 20 and just wanting to be able to skip all of this and become older past the job, bills and worries. Then on top of all that I am working on finding and keeping a relationship. The stresses and anxieties that come with being in your twenties. But, something I’ve discovered from being such a worry wart is you cannot be one. Worrying gets you nowhere. A few things have helped in the search to become a person of little to no worry. Having a great mother who provides support through everything and having faith in a power higher than ourselves.

God is not a God to watch us crash and burn from heaven. God is an active God. Caring deeply for us and watching us in everything we do. God is the ruler of everything. He has spoken through numerous people of power and will continue to do so until the end. Faith is an amazing thing. But, not just having faith in God but having faith in yourself as well. I’m not saying you can do everything by yourself and leave God out, because that will only get you so far. Prayer is a powerful thing that help us to live a life that is pleasing for God. Acknowledging our weakness and asking for help. This is something I continue to struggle with. As do many others we think we can do everything our own way, which we can’t. God is here for us. When we admit our failures and our struggles God doesn’t judge us. God loves to be needed and wanted. He is the greatest Father of all, always by our side willing to help. But, when we don’t think God cares we cannot turn from Him. God has his own amazing plan for us. If something doesn’t go the way you wanted then it wasn’t apart of God’s incredible plan for us. God is the light that leads our path. Accepting we aren’t perfect and He is, is the first step in becoming friends with God. God is the best coach, Father and teacher we can ever have.

Flipping your Lid

Posted on by Jason

One day I was with my parents at Costco, which is this huge store that sells everything in bulk. I just a Saturday afternoon and it was extremely busy. I don’t know what is up with people in the city. They are so focused on their tasks, and when they aren’t other people get upset. This is the one thing that I hate about living in the city, everyone has a strict agenda which they need to keep or something terrible will happen, so they think. Us as humans could learn a thing or two about the way animals live. I’m not saying that we need to study and try to be more like animals but, they do what they want when they do. I know we all have certain things in our lives we need to take care of, but I think we all need to just step back and take a break. When struck with this impatience you need take a deep breath. When doing this remember that you need to be patient.

I think one way of illustrating this is how God absolutely doesn’t push us. He patiently wants us to believe in Him but, He doesn’t have a hidden agenda and He doesn’t push. He wants us to be comfortable with Him on our terms. This is incredibly huge and significant in comparison to waiting in a line up at a store. God in this situation doesn’t get mad or lose hope in us. God continues to show us His majesty but He’s not pushy and He doesn’t try to shove His relationship upon us. So the next time you think of losing your cool take a lesson from the all powerful God who doesn’t lose patience and doesn’t get mad at us.

Roots

Posted on by Jason

Something I think is really cool but don’t know too much about is where I’ve come from. Not in a biological way but, in a historical way. I think it would be cool to have everything written down and to be able to track you genealogy through the history of time. Think about all the people you could be related to. Unfortunately the furthest I know about my family is up to my great grand parents. Which I’m still fairly vague on. Your genealogy is one way to know what and where your roots are but, the other is right here and now and that’s what we are going to talk about.

What we do and think about is what is shaping us for the future. Our roots can be stuck in anything, but the trick for growing up is planting your roots into good things. Having roots in drugs and sex are not good places to plant your roots. Good places would be in family or friends or school. Making a firm foundation for yourself will help to ensure that you have a good future and life.

What’s amazing about God is His ability to help us nurture and grow through Him. Planting your roots in God and his love helps. It helps to know that God cares for us. God tells us to be planted and deep rooted in his love and know that he will be with us. If we are planted firmly in God than we can add other aspects of our life on top of that firm foundation which will keep us rooted. However sometime our roots can become loosen when we forget to stay true to God. When we lose sight of Him we can potentially become uprooted.

This journey with God is not always an easy one but, there will be more good times than bad times. God’s love can cover over all of us. It’s your choice to follow Him. Just know that you are loved. Get to know the name of your creator and all he’s done for you already. God is love and I hope everyone of you is able to experience His love and support.

The Dance

Posted on by Jason

As I look at this empty page trying to figure out what I should write, I’m listening to some music and the next song is “The Road and The Radio” by Kenny Chesney. This song inspires me to write. It makes me think of all the places I’ve been blessed to see. I love travelling, it’s something that’s grown on me over time. This song really makes me want to be on the road. The song gives me a sense of being care free, just “being in this moment”. Something everyone longs for. I love getting out of the city and seeing how when you aren’t rushed, how different the world can be. Living in a city I believe robs city dwellers of this experience. We are too busy rushing and missing life.

Something I long to do is get in a car, any car really and just drive. With no destination, no itinerary and no worries. Living free and easy. But, as quickly as I go into this dream I am taken out of it by reality. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to live without absolutely no worry at all. This is something that I struggle with everyday. I am constantly worrying about things, like what’s for lunch, am I going to get my next project in on time, things like this. But, really I need to remove myself from these thoughts.Spending my time worrying keeps me from remembering I am not alone. I have friends, family and God. I shouldn’t view them in this order but, sometimes I can’t help it. Sometimes God feels like he is in a league of his own, and it’s crazy to think that he truly cares about us.

Recently I went to my friend’s church and the pastor/minister was talking about this very thing. Giving up our sense of worry and stop thinking that we can run our lives by ourselves. This minister said something very interesting; Life is a dance, we can’t lead the whole time. Our will shouldn’t over power His. We can lead occasionally, but a dance is an even participation between two individuals that work simultaneously to dance well. I find this extremely challenging, frankly, I don’t want to give up leading. But, what good is it leading if, you don’t know all the moves? It’s difficult to do, but if you think about it, the dance of life would be easier with someone who knows all the moves. I’m not saying that you need to give your whole self. But, it’s easier to dance with a partner and there isn’t a better partner than God. Why not put on your dancing shoes and start this dance of life with a leader who knows all the moves.