Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Facebook Phenomenon

About a year ago a friend from seminary emailed me and encouraged me to get a facebook account so we could keep up with each other more effectively. I had never heard of it before and was not real sure how an online program could enable friends to keep up any better than the means we already had. After all we had email, blogs, and websites. But I went ahead and signed up and I am so glad I did.

At first I had a handful of friends get connected with me and then old high school friends, friends from college, pastors, and church members from my current church and other churches I’ve served began to connect with me. My wife Carrie also signed up and she started to get connected with people she had not spoken to in years.

I find myself on facebook everyday confirming new friends, answering messages, making comments about what I’m doing or have done that day, reading other people's comments about their day, and responding back and forth. It is amazing! I have contact with friends on three continents and all over the nation. I get to see pictures of the events that are shaping their lives and learn about the challenges they are facing.

It is easy to get connected and to navigate the site and it is a lot of fun. I hope to see you soon on www.facebook.com.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree that Facebook has a very positive effect on my life. Life has a way of keeping us busy doing our daily "stuff", that day by day, we find ourselves growing apart from many of our family and friends. There are only so many tasks we can take on in one day. There are only so many "hellos" we can say in one day. There are only so many folks we can think of or pray for during the day. We cannot be all things to all people. And, over time, we sometimes close ourselves off from those that used to mean so much to us, because get so busy doing our "stuff".

Facebook has provided me a way to stay connected to family and friends who I cannot see everyday. I am now a small part of their daily lives. I have found opportunities to celebrate with, cry with, pray with, laugh with, or just to share life with lots of folks. Being a member of such a large church, it is hard to keep up what is going on with all of them. I am getting a closer look into the lives of my friends and family, which helps me be a better friend.