O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him. Psalm 34:8
What a dynamite word for 2012!!!

i'm in!!

any thoughts or ideas on what you want a guest posting to include.

Wow!!! thanks for the vote of confidence. I've been slacking a little in the last month, writing once a week. Not being very consistent to say the least.

and this past week, I've dropped the ball on the photography resolution. not the photography, but taking a photo day. I've let the winter blahs get the better of me.

and then I find this. thank you!!

sadly, i think the church fails in relationship, with an over-emphasis on the rules of right and wrong.

i think the church fails in good works, with an over-emphasis on the spiritual.

in response to the first comment, i think Bayside's attempt at better community relations are terrific and a good step for the community they inhabit. talking with the leaders of the community is as important as actually going into the community talking to people. it's not either/or. can it not be both? the leaders of the community would have a good idea what is missing/needed in the community. maybe Bayside can help fill a need that no one is doing, rather than duplicating the good work of another organization.

good job on the new about!!

my word for the is "photography." in the vein of developing my skills as a photographer, I am doing a Photo 365 project. you can see my start at http://dougmullin.net/photo365/

i'll certainly be keeping you in my prayers as you venture on your year of "honesty." blessing on you!! and I look forward to see what God brings to us in the year of 2011.

i love the beard, having lived with one most of the last year. over the years, it's been varying states of shaving or lack thereof. This year, I shaved my beard for Movember to raise money for Protrate Cancer Research by growing a 'Mo.

blessings on the New Year for you.

i just bought Radical after waiting for weeks, and after having read the first chapter and following a read-a-long on the book.

I am reading Lies the Government Told You by Andrew Napolitano. I got it through the Book Sneeze website, for review.

I have Bonhoeffer's the Cost of Discipleship, Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyon's unChristian and Andy Stanley's Visioneering. These are all in progress reads.

I am reading Clive Cussler's Blue Gold as the token fiction. and for historical perspective on my personal politics, I am reading Hal Draper's The Two Souls of Socialism.

All in all, a diverse mix of ideas and formats. I have eBooks, print books and a self-created PDF. and one I am reading online: Jimmy Spencer's Love Without Agenda.

I'm looking forward to read The Next Christians by Lyons and Your Secret Name by Kary Oberbrunner.

I'm not a part of a church plant, though I have considered the idea of starting a church plant. However, my city is already overchurched. and to add another church to the competive mix doesn't seem wise. i would rather try to be a force for good in my chosen congregation. and to be religious in James' definition of pure religion: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

I feel a lot like a chameleon, blending into my surroundings, not making standing out, not making a difference, but if you look at the right angle or talk to the right people, you just might see the difference.
My recent post works is our way of life

HI, thanks, Elizabeth, Dan and Nora for choosing to take your jobs at CBC which led you to the assignment of creating Spark. I have only got into regular podcasting listening in the last year, getting an iPhone helped. I'm been very selective to how much information I am choosing to listen to, with only six podcasts on my computer and phone. And there is only one I MUST listen to, which is Spark.

As for thoughts on friendship, I think my use of Twitter has changed my life for the better. I joined Twitter initially to follow a few public figures, celebrities and musicians. I soon became a Twittaholic.

Before you tune out of my long comment, I think Twitter has enhanced my weak ties of friendship, helped me maintained old friendships and has created new friendships, some face to face, others Twitter Mention and DM to Twitter Mention and DM.

I like the fact that I can follow and communicate with interesting people I would have probably have never met in any other form. Twitter has become a weak tie networking tool for me. I care more about the people in my community, because I talk to more of them and listen to on Twitter. I have been to the two Tweetups organized in my adopted home city of Fredericton. At the last Tweetup, I met the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce and received an invite to one of their events. I had been following this lady for a while but did not know her job until I met her face to face at the Tweetup. I am interested in continuing getting to know this woman, as a business contact and friend.

It has helped me cross the political divide. I am involved in provincial politics here in NB with the NDP. Through Twitter and the Tweetup, I met a provincial Liberal involved in politics in the same riding I live and volunteer. We have had a few debates/conversations over Twitter. It has been quite cordial and non-partisan; at least I believe it’s been that way. Outside of our individual politics, it seems that we have similar interests. I would say a friendship is developing.

I am also using Twitter to keep in touch with a friend who moved away from Fredericton to Moncton. We used to hang out a lot with other mutual friends. Being busy with lots of things going on, I’ve never embraced the telephone, except as a brief communication tool; i.e. to call someone I couldn’t see face to face to get info I needed. I have avoided the phone for maintaining social interactions. So using Twitter has allowed me to keep in touch with a friend that I might have kept in touch with without it. The interesting thing is that we met in the late 1990s, met again years later, became good friends, but our face to face closeness comes and goes. Everything we are face to face or in close contact regularly, our friendship continues right where it left off.

I have also embraced Twitter as a way to engage with people I have never met, maybe never will, but relish the day I can meet them. Before Twitter, my social interaction online was limited to circles of people I already knew. For me it was the trust issue. Talking to others in chat rooms, a person can be anyone, they can embellish their real life and I cannot verify it. I don`t know why I feel that Twitter has changed that. It may be the Web 2.0 effect. People want to be known and identified, and that happens through honest conversations, whether deep or superficial. I now have followers in New Zealand and Great Britain that I converse with, on a semi regular basis. I hope someday I can travel and meet them.

And most importantly, I have a friendship on Twitter that seems to be becoming a deeper friendship. This friend lives in Nashville. I followed her because I am interested in the Christian music scene and she works for a band based in Nashville. I added her on Facebook and she asked if I was a follower from Twitter. I started reading her blog regularly. She blogs about her regular life, mixed with some band stuff, and stuff she finds interesting. We emailed back and forth a little bit, chatted live on Skype. However, our primary communication is through Twitter and the Direct Message function. On Twitter, it started like any other connection. I would RT her interesting Tweet. We talked publicly for a while and then one day, I noted that she DMed me from a public question. From then on, it’s been almost exclusively a private conversation. We see each other’s public tweets and we talk about life and whatever suits us through DM.

I look forward to the day that I can meet her and give her a big hug of friendship. She has impacted me more profoundly than many of the people I know face to face. And to me that is an important thing for friends to do.

To sum up, Twitter, being only one social media tool, has enhanced my weak ties, brought old friends together in a shared activity (we’re both building a social media brand around our identity) and created new friendships.