Deurty

Am I scared of technology? I have an ipod nano, a laptop computer, a cell phone, and a van with more computing power than my old TRS Model 1 computer. Has technology made life better? Every time I am in a hospital or connect online with a long lost friend I say yes! They save time, they are used to save lives, and they make life comfortable. But, I get fatigued by the way I am connected to technology and how much I have come to depend on it... for relationships... for entertainment... for learning... and what that connection has led me to loose. (Often the very things I am hoping to gain.) I secretly wish I could be an Urban Amish. Minus the clothes and beard that I could never grow. Yes, I know I am idealizing the simple life, but I think taking moments to reflect on if technology has made our lives better and in what ways is helpful. What bit of technology can you not live without and how might your life change if you lost it? I hate cell phones, sd

One thing that I've done for most of my life is think through various scenarios. I would have conversations with myself that I envisioned would take place with another person. I would get my facts straight, think through the issues, recall the why and the what, and just gear myself up for conversations that may take place. The problem is... they rarely if ever took place. But I felt more prepared anyway. It was a tool that I thought would bring peace when I was anxious and feeling defensive. However the reality is that it just created more anxiety and took up more time and head space. Rehearsing hasn't been helpful for me and I am trying to kill it. I was driving the other day and feeling a bit anxious about how someone might respond to something and I launched into my rehearsal. This and that started coming out of mouth as I drove along and then I realized what I was doing. I just stopped the stream of justifications and said,"God, you love me and I'm your kid...

I love Mongolian BBQ. I can stomach Arby's. In both of these places I have found bells that are supposed to be rung if you had good service. (And left a tip at Mongolian.) I heard a couple ladies chatting today about churches, pastors, and services at the local coffee place. They talked way toooo loudly and were quite passionate in their concerns for the church. I overheard the discussion about the pastor who is trying to implement new ideas into an established church. I couldn't help hear about the way the church is creating problems with their different worship styles. I heard about a husband who gets frustrated regularly with the church. In the midst of this I couldn't take it any more. I said in a talking voice, "Jesus bring unity." They didn't seem to slow down, but I felt better throwing my frustration with the chit chat at Jesus (perhaps the chit chat was done under the label of concern and seeking God). The chit chat seemed to treat the church ...

Tomorrow we are launching our new Watermark family website: We are Marked. Check it out. Brad Zimmerman put it together and did a great job. Brad's company is: Vinmark Productions. I recommend him to you. I also got an article up on one of my pet hobby projects for the year: Deurty.com It was an article for our newsletter, but I'll be putting up other stuff soon... Anyways go Tigers! sd

I have a friend who is currently in jail and I have been able to visit him and check in. Anyways, a week or so ago, Harrison asked me where I was going and I explained that I was going to visit our friend who is in jail. Harrison said, "Are you going to save him?" I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Are you going to save him?" I said, "Do you mean help him get out of jail?" He said, "Yes." This exchange made me think about a couple things... 1) I was shocked to hear my four year old son use a very churchy word like "save." I wondered if I had said it around him... I realized that he wasn't talking about the "save" that I was thinking about. When he asked me if I was going to "save" our friend he was not expecting me to share the good news and have him say yes in a prayer to see him spiritually saved... that was my assumption. 2) My son thinks I have what it takes to break into a jail and set the c...