Tag Archives: twitter

From a Tweet to a Prayer to a Friendship

I love all of my friends. And I am blessed and humbled to know each and every one of them. But there are some people in my life I so greatly respect that the fact I can call them a friend humbles me beyond words.

Michael Buckingham (@holycowcreative) is one of those people. And the story of our friendship truly is from a tweet to a prayer to a friendship. And it’s a God story that deserves to be told so He can get the credit! This past March Michael sent out a tweet with a link to a prayer form on his website. I don’t know what compelled me to fill it out and submit it or to be honest in doing so because I just don’t do that sort of thing, but I did. Michael followed up not long after with an email and from those conversations a friendship began. Really, it’s more of a mentorship because I have more to learn from that guy than there is probably time for in this life!

In a world where online can lack authenticity and people’s offline selves can be the opposite of their online, I’m blessed to know people like Michael who break the norm. I’ve only met a handful of people who are extremely passionate about what they do but also always true to their heart for people. And even fewer who walk that out with humility. Michael is one of those people and it’s an honor to know him.

And you know the really great part? Michael wants to pray for you too! Check out his site here and share as much or as little as you’d like.

3 Comments Just Life, Relationships

Name Dropping

I’ll be completely candid and honest, one of my biggest twitter pet peeves is all of the “name dropping” that seems to happen. In fact, as a result I’ve gotten to the point of rarely tagging people in my tweets because I don’t want be lumped in with the name droppers.

But, I’ve been thinking this week about the difference between name dropping and “friend dropping” or “someone you believe in dropping.” I had the opportunity to meet some incredible people this week who are new friends and people I believe in. But, if you looked at my tweets from the last couple of days you wouldn’t have any idea who any of those incredible people were. And honestly, that makes me a bit sad because I want the world to know about those people. They are genuine, influential, encouraging, relationship building, servant hearted, Jesus loving dreamers. They are the kind of people that give me hope for the world and for the Church.

So, I’m actively struggling to find a balance. A balance between too many names and not enough names. A balance of the difference between a name and a friend or someone I believe in. And all of that makes me wonder if what I think is “name dropping” is often just people who are excited to talk about their friends and people they believe in.

2 Comments Relationships

Why I Love Technology

On Saturday I had lunch with a friend who I met because of a “mutual friend” on Facebook and a Facebook #fail.
Saturday night I went out with my roommates whom I found on Craigslist.
Sunday morning I went to church…a church that I call a home…a church that I ended up at because of a friendship that developed several states away via Twitter.

We can criticize all we want, and yes, we need to remember that technology and social media are simply tools. But, if we slow down enough to see it, at the heart of it all is people and relationships. That is why I love technology.

Why do you love technology?

4 Comments Relationships, Technology

You know you were born in ________ if…

I’ve worked with kids in some capacity for the last 7 years of my life. I remember the first time a child told me their birthday was something 2000 when I was volunteering with an inner city after school program. That was crazy to me then, and for some reason it still is a little bit. Those children were born into a world that I grew into.

The other day I was working with a couple of kids and we were acting out some imaginary story. I said something about them not being able to get their (imaginary) horse back because they didn’t know where I was. A little girl, 7, responded as she lifted her hand as if holding a small box like object “That’s okay, I’ve got my GPS, just give me your address and I’ll find you.” I laughed…hard. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t have even imaginary GPSs when I was a kid.

Last night around 10pm I saw a meteor/fireball type object fly through the sky as I was working outside on my patio. I tweeted about it because it was so amazing. It didn’t take long for someone to respond telling me they had also seen it…in a different state…and that they had read someone else who had seen it on Facebook and lived near where it landed. By this morning, less than 12 hours later, that meteor controls 7 pages of Google search results and has a Facebook fan page with nearly 1,000 fans last time I checked.

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably wondering “what’s the point?”

My point: I honestly wonder what kind of world my kids (if the Lord blesses me with some) will grow up in. Television is today’s “evil turn the mind to mush” medium…I wonder if it will even exist as we know it when my kids are growing up. The speed with which information can travel across cyberspace still amazes me, and I hope it always does. The speed with which technology is advancing still amazes me, and again, I hope it always does.

We’ve all seen those lists, right? You know you were born in the 70s if…or the 80s if…or the 90s if…and so on. Today, I’m wondering what that list will look like for my kids, for children born two generations from now.


1 Comment Deep Thinking, Just Life, Technology