25 Random Things about Me

A few months ago, some “friends” of ours got Mindi on Facebook. I think we all regret that day. Our lives have not been the same since and we have lost our wife and mother to a horrible addiction….

That’s probably a little melodramatic, but you get the point. Mindi plunged into the depths of this incredible social-networking tool, learning how to post pics and updating her profile as often as possible.
She immediately wanted me to join, but I had lame-o excuses like “I don’t need anything else to do” or “That’s a toy for women” or “I have to wash my hair”- anything to stay out of the Facebook Addiction. Alas, my resolve was broken and in a moment of weakness and turkey-induced hysteria at Christmas, I signed up for Facebook.
Though I haven’t found the joy in it that Mindi has, it has been pretty cool. I’ve connected with some old friends and had a good time reading different people’s thoughts on some of the craziest things ever.

One such topic of conversation recently on FB has been “25 Random Things about Me”. Its kind of like an old-fashioned chain letter w/o the threat of smallpox or failing fortunes the old snail-mail versions seemed to carry. It goes like this- you write 25 things about yourself that few know about, post them on your page, and send a note to at least 25 people that you did this. Once they read them, they are supposed to repeat the process, etc, etc.

Over the course of about 48 hours, I got hit with about 7-8 of these “25 Things”. Again, under the hypnotic power of FB, I submitted 25 random things about myself and tagged 25 people to read them. It’s been fun to see people’s comments and to have some dialogue about them with old and new friends.

I’ve thought about this a lot since then. Why do we feel the need to put this kind of info on the web? Where else would you say these kinds of things? With whom should /could we talk about this kind of stuff?

I think its because we want community, safety- friends. A group of people that we can hang out with, do nothing with, do anything with, and share life with. In a Christian context, we know we’ve been recreated to live with others and we are seeking places and people to do that with. But, our old habits and beliefs persist. Isolationism, selfishness, pride, embarrassment, hurt feelings, self-protection. So instead of building real community, instead of seeking to live truthfully and meaningfully with people, we settle for on line social clubs and talk about 25 random things.

Romans 15 and 16 teach us about submitting to one another, greeting and accepting other believers, and talk about deep relationships between believers that span time and distance.

I pray that we all seek, desire, and facilitate this kind of Christian community. What are some things that make it hard? What excuses do I give myself to not do it? To what lengths will I go to have it?

Gotta go- gotta check my Facebook friend requests….