Fellow Sojourner

Withdrawing To Get A Better Look

Dandelion Fluff

Have you ever looked at the life cycle of a dandelion? Those incredible yellow flowers, or weeds, which spring up all over the grass as soon as spring arrives. To some people, they look pretty. To others, they’re a menace to be weeded out and discarded forever. The first life of the dandelion consists of that little yellow flower that just seems to never go away.

Then, for those that do survive the first cycle of life, the dandelion suddenly and magically turns into nothing more than fluff. On the surface, this fluff looks very harmless. When a wind comes along, the fluff is blown away and the dandelion is never to be seen again.

At least for a season…

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Tags: Chaos, Dandelion, Fluff, Life, Perspective, Thomas Merton

#FollowFriday On Twitter Once Again!

It’s another Friday and that means it’s another #followfriday on Twitter! This is a day when sometimes our Twitter streams get very noisy with people making suggestions of some of their favorite people they follow on Twitter. The idea is to recommend people who are worth following on Twitter.

Once again this week, instead of tossing a list of people into a 140 character tweet on Twitter, I’m following the advice of Steve Woodruff on a way to streamline #followfriday. If you’d like to read more about Steve’s suggestion you check out his blog entry entitled Improving #FollowFriday.

First off, if you aren’t on Twitter, you can head on over to the main Twitter website and set up an account. It’s really easy to set up a Twitter account.

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Tags: #FollowFriday, Twitter

#FollowFriday On Twitter

Friday on Twitter is known as #FollowFriday. In case you’re not aware of what Twitter is, let me give you a brief description before I go any further.

Twitter is a social networking site. Actually, it’s better known as a microblog because you’re limited to 140 characters per tweet. Instead of filling up this entire post with links scattered throughout, at the end of the post I will give all the links in one place. So, you can read this brief description here, without feeling the need to click on a link. But, you will want to do so later on at the end of this post.

I discovered Twitter a long time ago. I’m not really sure when I joined, but I know I was one of the early adopters. But then again, I usually like to try out new things as soon as they hit the Internet. I played around for a while, but wasn’t really sure what added value Twitter brought to my Internet use. However, as time went on, I started discovering some great new friends. It’s a social network for people to connect on many levels. While some use it solely as a marketing tool, there’s much more to it than that. As a matter of fact, while many marketers may have big numbers for followers, they seldom interact, and for me, I usually ignore their requests for me to follow them. I’m not interested in an endless stream of marketing information.

I’m looking for interaction.

So, how does one find interesting people to follow on Twitter? That’s where #FollowFriday comes in. Usually every Friday people simply tweet out a list of @people they’re following. In other words, it’s a recommendation from one person to follow another person. Over the past few weeks, #FollowFriday has resulted in a lot of noise as people simply send out endless lists of @friend suggestions. I’ve actually started ignoring many of them because I simply don’t have time to look over every suggested person.

What to do, what to do, what to do?

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Tags: #FollowFriday, Twitter, Twitter Bird, What Is Twitter

The Week Starts on Sunday…

Have you noticed how a lot of business calendars these days have the first day of the week as Monday? Actually, calendars have been sliding that way for a while, but I’m beginning to notice it more and more these days. It’s like the entire world is shifting to the idea that the most important thing in life is getting up Monday morning and heading off to work.

But, this simply is not the case.

Job burnout and overall distaste for where one works at is at an all time high. Many people simply are not happy with their lives. Could it be a result of the fact that many are geared to think Monday is the first day of the week? If your mindset is one of work, work, work, then you may quickly discover the old cliche - “All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.”

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Tags: Encouragement, Hope, Monday, Postively Impact Those Around You, Sunday

He Leaned On His Staff

Through the years the way we record our family history has changed. In the Old Testament the patriarch of the family always carried a staff. Of course the staff itself had many uses. It was a shepherd staff to keep the sheep in line. It was also a walking stick helping the young shepherd make his way through the rocky hillside. As the years moved along, the staff even took on more of a cane use instead of just a simple walking stick. Whatever the case may be, one thing was sure, the staff stayed with the patriarch throughout his life. 

But, the staff was far more than just a simple walking stick or cane. The staff also contained the geneology and history of that particular family. Etched along the patriarch’s staff were important events that took place in his life. Births, deaths, movements through time. All tracking and keeping a chronological order of the patriarch’s life.

The staff was how the Sojourner kept track of his journey as he made his way through life here on earth.

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Tags: #80sphotowknd #80sphotoday, Family History, Geneology, Pictures, Twitter

Where Does Your Compass Point?

I’m not a big Pirates of the Caribbean movie fan. I liked the first one, hated the second one, and tolerated the third. Now with rumors of Johnny Depp signing up for a reprisal of his Captain Jack Sparrow character, I’m dreading the fourth installment of a Pirates movie. However, even though I don’t really like the movies, I’ve always been fascinated with Captain Jack’s compass.

Throughout the first movie Captain Jack is chastised because his compass doesn’t work. It never points North. Instead it spins around and goes in different directions. But never North. However, even though the compass never points North, Captain Jack always ends up where he wants to go. By the second movie we discover the secret of the malfunctioning compass. The compass may never point North, but it does point to something more important.

Captain Jack’s compass points “toward what the heart wants.”

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Tags: Captain Jack Sparrow, Hope for the Future, Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean, Staying the course

A Time For Family Tradition

What does Christmas mean to you?

It’s the time of year when there’s much activity. Many people run from place to place trying to find the perfect gift. Others run from place to place trying to see everyone they’ve neglected to see during the past 11 months of the year. Still others simply become overwhelmed with the thought of the Christmas season. I know that last one is hard to believe. But, many people really don’t like this time of year because they’re simply overwhelmed by all the activity.

When I think of Christmas, I think of family. As a kid we would all head off to the Christmas Eve Candle Light Service. Then it would be home with some friends popping over for a quick snack. Later in the evening, just before it was time to go to bed, our parents would allow us to open one present. It was a wet our appetite type thing so we would hopefully not try to get up at 1 o’clock in the morning on Christmas Day.

It was great fun, and I have many great memories of childhood Christmas celebrations. Christmas Day would find us up and moving, usually early, to spend time with the immediate family. Then it would be off for a larger family gathering with relatives.

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Tags: Advent Candles, Christmas Church Tradition, Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, Christmas Family Tradition, Church Family

A Call For Help!

How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!” before you come to the rescue?

We’ve all heard the phrase, and maybe used it from time to time, “There’s never a cop around when you need one.” There are times when we wonder if anyone is hearing our cry for help. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about crime, or simply addressing a family or personal crisis. Sometimes many feel all alone. A friend of mine wrote a song a number of years ago called Lonely In A Crowd. It’s an alarming song about how many people wander this earth, feeling lonely in a crowd.

Have you ever felt like that? Lonely in a crowd?

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Tags: Habakkuk, Message of Hope

This Post Is Taking Part in Brody Harper’s Positive Post Tuesday Carnival!

It’s been a while since I’ve taken part in one Brody’s Positive Post Tuesday events, but I just couldn’t let another slip by. As we approach Thanksgiving, there’s much to be thankful for. Yes, even in the midst of turmoil, we do have much to be thankful for. Actually, because of the situation many find themselves in today, this could be one of the most important Thanksgiving times ever. This year, the best medicine for everyone to take could very well be an attitude of thankfulness as we find ourselves heading into another Thanksgiving season.

As part of my radio gig, I also host a talk show called The Live Line. From time to time I come across a guest that really stands out in the crowd.

One such guest is Mike Robbins, author of Focus on the Good Stuff. 

Mike has an amazing story. He was drafted out of high school by the New York Yankees. But, instead of heading to the Yankees organization, he decided to attend college and pitch at Stanford University where he pitched in the College World Series. After college, he went on to play for the Kansas City Royals for three seasons. When it looked like he had everything going for him, Mike suffered a career ending arm injury.

Faced with the decision of what to do, Mike decided to turn what looked like a bad situation, into a positive situation, by looking for the good stuff.

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Tags: Focus on the Good Stuff, Kansas City Royals, Mike Robbins, New York Yankees, Thanksgiving

Tuesday, November 4 Is Election Day!

When it comes to elections, people can get really crazy. It seems this election cycle is no different. If anything, in this never-ending-presidential-election cycle we find ourselves in, the lines have been drawn even deeper in the sand. Never before have I seen two candidates further divide a nation, or result in a nation of undecideds, as we have before us today. Tomorrow thousands of people will head to the polls to cast their vote not only for State leaders, but also for Congressional leaders, Senate leaders, and yes, the next President of the United States.

I’ve been fascinated with the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle. Not only in the political realm, but also in the church realm. It’s really hard to find balance anywhere, and I must admit, that’s sad, especially when thinking of the church side.

I’m amazed at the number of emails I’ve received from church groups telling me ‘how’ to pray.

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Tags: 2 Timothy 2, Controlling Prayers, Election Day, John Piper, Praying For Leaders