I have a Facebook page and a lot of friends. I keep a MySpace page, although I am much less faithful to it than I used to be. I also blog (as you well know). All of these things have been good for me. It lends some discipline to my life. All of this online activity has had a further, and unexpected, positive effect on me as well. It has caused me to expand my ministry.
Several weeks ago a friend from high school emailed me and asked for me to pray for his ill father. Just a couple of weeks ago another friend- this time from college- contacted me to ask that I pray for his wife who was going through a cancer scare. I think that this sort of "prayer requesting" is a great use of new social media. And when someone makes this sort of request of me I do not feel used or taken advantage of. I truly believe that that is why I am here.
You see, I believe that people are gifts to be cherished, not objects to be used. Our world has too often turned that around. We use people to our advantage. We get what we can from them and then we move on. We resist making any sort of emotional attachment so that the separation that is bound to come will not be painful.
We see this in the high divorce rate. Individuals within a marriage use one another and then leave. It is a commitment-phobic world that we live in. We know that someone will use us, so we work really hard to use them first. This is all so wrong!
You and I ought to work to change this. We should cherish people, all people. We need to love and value others whether they help us or not. Whether we can use them, or get something from them, we are to be gracious, loving, forgiving and accepting to people.
I am going to cherish as many people as I can today. How about you?
Howe Church Website: http://howeunitedmethodist. org/
Rev Dewey's World Blog: http://revdeweysworld.blLeadership1234 Sermon Blog: http://leadership1234.bl
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/revdewey
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