mic test, check, check, can you hear me?

This is Nate. I have to announce that because I realize that I’m online so little that everyone would assume Becca is writing this. I have been all be absent from the online world, social networking has never really appealed to me, at least not since I’ve been married. However I agree social networking has lots of positive benefits, a very neat tool for keeping in touch with friends from ages past, and I’m thankful that Becca keeps me posted on some of the Facebook highlights. Even though I’m not good about staying in touch, I do enjoy hearing about what’s going on in your lives.

The biggest problem I have with social networking is time. I spend all day on the computer at work, in a job I enjoy very much, but when I get home, I spend all of my available time with my kids. I have a window of time from 8pm until 9pm after their bedtime when Facebook is an option, but that period of time has other competitors such as email, volleyball, small group, etc… After 9pm is time with Becca, and if I’m going to stay up late and sacrifice my sleep it better be for something really important. I have heard others say that Facebook is such as time drain for them they have to regulate their time or actually close their accounts. I don’t want to get sucked into that.

However, I do understand the concept of blogging. Not so much the “this is what I did today” kind of blogs, but the “this is what I think about life” kind of blogs, “this is what I’m learning”, “this is how I filter the noise of the many stressors in my life and focus on what’s important” kind of blogs.

God has some been doing some amazing things in my life over the last 6 months. I am so excited about what God has been doing and how Christ has revealed himself to me in new ways lately that I want to tell you about it. As the song says, “Go Tell it on the Mountain”. Well, Facebook will be my mountain.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing easy about what I have to tell you, I don’t look forward to it. Some of it will be embarrassing for me, some of it risks alienating old friendships (don’t worry, this blog is about me, I won’t be naming names). Neverthelless, I cannot be responsible for hiding the glory of the living God, who is alive, active, and powerful in this world today.

So this message is primarily a teazer, but also to help hold me accountable. I have a backlog of things I want to tell you about, I just need to take the time to put them into words. I’ll try to do 1 a week until I get caught up.

I will put this out there though. I just just started The Navigators’ Topical Memory System. It’s 60 verses that they believe are pivitol to a vibrant relationship with Christ, and they are broken down into 30 life-applicable topics. The goal is to memorize 2 verses per week, several people in my small group are doing it together to hold each other accountable. This is not easy for me! I don’t believe I’ve ever been encouraged to memorize scripture, and I have always taken the mindset of “why memorize something as long as I know how to find it when I need it?” But the problem with that is life happens when you least expect it, and so if you want to be prepared to help others when they need it, or yourself when you come under attack, you need a sharp sword, the Word of God! Leaving your sword at home does no good, and taking your sword with you but not knowing how to use it isn’t much better.

So, if anybody feels so inclined to take up the challenge with me, I’d be happy to be your accountability partner, I could use the practice! The Topical Memory System is a book you can find in any Christian bookstore or online. But I haven’t actually seen the book, a friend gave me the list of the verses and I’m just going off of that. I’m only in the second week, so you have plenty of time to catch up if you want to go through it together.

God is good,
Nate