Social Media Could Ruin Your Life

¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. – Colossians 3:17

Yesterday I said that social media is like money, it’s neutral. Whether or not the use of it will result in a positive or negative outcome is entirely up to the user. Today I want to focus on the negative aspect of social media. Here are my thoughts:

You Could Waste Your Life - How much time do you spend on Facebook? How much time do you spend on other people’s pages wishing you were them, could date them, had as many friends as them? How much time do you spend building a reputation online that isn’t even close to what your real life is? Just some thoughts…

You Could Destroy Your Reputation – Ultimately – this really comes down to how you live your life on a daily basis. If you don’t live a life of integrity and make unwise decisions, most likely whether it’s through pictures or people talking through social media, the entire world is going to find out, and what’s worse, once it’s out there, you can’t get it back.

You Could Miss Out on Your Dream Job - Resume’s are boring -> companies would rather google you.  What does Google say about you? Twitter? Your Facebook account? Your pictures? Social media will tell more about you than a resume ever will. If you were an employer and you saw your pictures or googled your name, would you hire you?

You Could Destroy Relationships - There is danger in how connected we can be through social media. Married people  could connect with lovers from high school, you can send love messages to people who are in a relationship and see if they’ll leave who their with to be with you… Basically: it’s a place that could lead to some very bad decisions if you don’t have boundaries in place or apply wisdom.

It Could Kill Your Business, Church, Organization - How often do you check what people said about a product or restaurant before you bought it or visited? When people visit your business, church, or organization, they will talk about  it. They will talk about it online and over time, the more people that talk, the more your companies reputation is effected through viral marketing of your customers. It’s either going to be good or bad, if it’s bad and you don’t do anything to change that… you’re not going to last very long.

These are just a few ways social media could ruin your life…..What am I missing?

This is to have Succeeded

“Let your lives be built on Him . . . then you’ll overflow with thankfulness.” -Col. 2:7

“The blessings of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” – Proverbs 10:22

Everybody wants to enjoy life. God wants us to enjoy life. I know a lot of people who have the desire to enjoy life, but aren’t. Often we are looking for joy, success, and happiness in all the wrong places. I’ve found that enjoying life comes from:

• Having a relationship with God – this is the foundation and fulfillment of true joy and happiness.

• Having great relationships - There isn’t anything more important in our lives than our relationships with others – cherish and cultivate them.

• Recognizing that changing a life, not drawing a crowd, is true success.

• Creating great experiences and memories – not gaining more material possessions. Create them often.

• Living with High Standards, Integrity, and Character -  I live my life according to the Bible. God created us and He knows the way we should live to enjoy life. He gives it to us in His Word!

• Serving - “A life not lived for others, is hardly a life.” -Mother Theresa

• Giving your life for others – right now I give my life to the students at Revolution – I love all of them so much and it is one of the greatest joys to go through life with them, pour into them, and have them pour into me.

I think Ralph Waldo Emerson sums it up well:

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of earnest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;  to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Are you enjoying life? If not, start doing some of the things I mentioned and watch as joy comes into your life.

What have you found joy and happiness come from?

Book Review: 25 Ways to Win With People

Probably one of the most influential people in my life has been John Maxwell – and I’ve never met him (Definitely a bucket list item). I’ve had this book on my shelf for a few years, it’s a companion to John’s book: Winning With People (I’d highly recommend that one as well. I pulled this off my shelf because of one of my mentors, Jeanne Mayo. Last week I got back from a mentoring retreat with 40 other youth pastors at her house. She is absolutely incredible at winning with people. I recognized that I need to do more on purpose when it comes to connecting and winning with others, so I picked up this book.

This book is a must read! It’s written by Les Parrot and John  Maxwell. Les basically interviewed people that were close to John and asked them why he is so good with people. They came up with 25 principles John practices. The first half of each chapter is Les telling a story he heard from one of John’s staff while the second half is John teaching about the principle. I don’t care if you’re naturally a people person – Read this book! It will help you win with people.

Here are the 25 Principles You’ll Learn:

1. Start with Yourself
2. Practice the 30 Second Rule
3. Let People Know You Need Them
4. Create a Memory and Visit it Often
5. Compliment People in Front of Other Peopel
6. Give Others a Reputation to Uphold
7. Say the Right Words at the Right Time
8. Encourage the Dreams of Others
9. Pass the Credit onto Others
10. Offer Your Very Best
11. Share a Secret with Someone
12. Mine the Gold of Good Intentions
13. Keep Your Eyes off the Mirror
14. Do for Others What They Can’t do for Themselves
15. Listen with Your Heart
16. Find the Keys to Peoples Hearts
17. Be the First to Help
18. Add Value to People
19. Remember a Person’s Story
20. Tell a Good Story
21. Give with No Strings Attached
22. Learn Your Mailman’s Name
23. Point out People’s Strengths
24. Write Notes of Encouragement
25. Help People Win

Final Grade: 10/10 Buy Here

Crumbs – Perry Noble

Beautiful_01 Crumbs Outtake from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

This clip is a few months old and I just watched it again and I wanted to share it with you. Hope it helps!

Must Listen to Message on Boundaries

If you’re single, dating, or married – you need to listen to this message.

It will help you set standards and boundaries in your life and your relationships.

It is the third message in the series entitled: “Living on the Edge”

It will add a ton of value to your life – I promise!

My Trip to Atlanta: Life Changing

The Road to Chicago (Part 4)

If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in Heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.

-Matthew 18:19,20

Is there anything more important than who we take the journey of our lives with? From family, to friends, to who we marry. You will go no further in life than the people you surround yourself with. That is an absolute fact.

So ask yourself… do you have friends, family members, and a possible significant other that encourages and challenges you to live out your best thoughts, honor your purest motives, and to achieve your most significant dreams?

If not I suggest taking the advice of one professional speaker, “My friends told me I could never be a professional communicator. So I did something about it. I went out and got some new friends.”

Who are you partnering with?

Time Management (Part 3)

If you’re anything like me you have an incredibly hard time telling people no or telling them something they do not want to hear. Because of this I often find myself “overbooking” my schedule to please people. In elementary school, middle school, high school, and even for some off college it seemed as if I had an infinite amount of time to spend with people, so I would hang out with as many people as I could as often as I could. As I continue in life’s journey I am finding that the more you continue to grow in life the more important your time is and how you spend your time. You end up having to choose very intentionally who to spend time with and what you spend your time doing. Craig Groeschel had a great post on this.

i.e. Right now I am running a marathon, working 30 hours a week at church, I’m a full time college student, and go to Bible School. I have less time to spend with people now then I did when I was in high school and only had a 7 hour school day. When I get married, I’ll need to spend a ton of time with my wife so my time will be even more limited…etc.

I often have people challenge me that I only spend time with “big dogs” or “people that can add value to me” and that bothered me incredibly. I would scream inside, “I only have so much time in a week, month, year, etc… and everyone wants my time and if I don’t give it to them then I’m the bad guy… I CAN’T PLEASE EVERYBODY….AHHHHH.”

I’ve discovered that it’s a fact that:

• “You will go no further than the people you surround yourself with”
• “You show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future”
• “You attract who you are, not who you want”
  

I guess what I am finding is this:

Friendships in life develop and are constantly changing as you go through seasons of life. I am convinced that “best friends” should be able to not see each other for years, and yet they’ll get together and it will be like they’ve never left. Yet so many people make the assumption that it will always be like the “good old days” and they get upset when it’s not. Unfortunately these people end up missing out on the journey because they refuse to go on and accept change. Even when you do give them time, they end up wasting it by complaining about how it isn’t like the good old days (this drives me insane…Grow and Get a Life!)

I want to spend my time wisely with people who:

• Can constantly challenge me to dream, go after God, and change the world
• Are going somewhere in life and understand the value of time
• Are a blast to hang out with
• Don’t spend 90% of their conversations complaining
• Will treat me the same even if they haven’t seen me in years

If I spent time with everybody who wants my time… I’d burn out, would never have time alone, would never have devotions, and would never be effective in life. I love what Paul said:

“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”
-Galatians 1:10

If I am not intentional with how I spend my time and who I spend it with… I will miss out on so much of what God has for me…I’m here to please an audience of One!

Realize I am not talking about spending time with people who are hurting and need counseling and things of that nature… I am talking about my personal life.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Sunday Night Reflections 9.14.08

It’s been a pretty sweet week… here are some thoughts:

New Season of Rev- Today we had our last service without a youth pastor. It’s been a little over a year of Sean, Zack, and I running youth. I am excited for a new season of Rev and to see it go to another level. I just helped move in our new youth pastor (Nathan Hurst), he is a great guy and I am pumped to see God work through him!

19 North - Zack and Lauren and doing a whole month series called “Co-Ed” which is on sex, dating, and the single life. It’s a great series. Last night ZB took talked to the ladies and Lauren talked to the guys. I would recommend listening to the podcasts! Also, we’re having the first ever Silver Ring Thing 20-something event at Victory through 19 North this Friday. Do not miss that!

Redefining Relationships – Craig Groeschel had a great blog series this week on redefining relationships. He talked about how the bigger a church gets, the bigger our families become, and as we just grow up in life, we have to constantly be redefining our relationships with people. I’m just starting to see this in ministry and I am realizing it is a very hard thing to go through. Craig’s insight really helped me out.

Loves Correction and Submission and Authority – I’ve been feeding on these two series by Keith Moore… they pretty much rocked my world. Everyone (especially young leaders) need to listen to these two series (along with all of Keith Moore’s series!!)

Fear Factor – So we’re having a month long Fear Factor competition at Rev. It’s been crazy! We had our 2nd round this past Wednesday and made students bob for worms in all kind of nasty junk. It was a blast and I’m pumped for next week… only 4 contestants left!

I’m going out to watch the Steelers game with some great friends tonight… until next time! Love you guys!

What Matters Most (Part 2)

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