A couple of months back (I think around December) I approached this topic – but I think it is important to do so again.  The big question that a lot of folks don’t grasp is “Why do you waste your time blogging, twittering, and facebook-ing?“  To them, it seems trivial – and they are, perhaps, right.  Much of what I “twitter” about – and even a few of my blog posts are, in fact, trivial.  In all fairness, much of what my friends twitter or post about is “trivial”.

Why do artists like MercyMe, Third Day, Steven Curtis Chapman, and countless others twitter?  Yes, again we approach the topic of random tweets – but think of how many people follow the randomness.  We live in a society where things like reality television are such commonplace that it is often hard to not be interested in knowing what is going on in someone’s life.  We learn about when someone buys a new hat, got a flat tire going to another tourdate, got the tourbus stuck, or when our friends step in gum on the sidewalk, got a new car, or wants a little help with figuring out what new pair of glasses to get.

At the same time, the usefullness of such a trivial service becomes very trivial.  Through means such as blogging, twitter, facebook, you know when a friend’s baby girl is going through a rough time in a hospital and can give him encouragement when he is attempting to make decisions about the possibility of having to cancel a major concert date to be by his daughter’s side.  With things like twitter, you know when a family of friends has just found out that their adopted daughter’s sister is being born somewhere and needs a good home…and you are able to help them get out the word to others and help them raise over $12,000 in less than a day to help bring that child into a safe home.  With things like twitter, you can help a worship pastor friend pray that he will land a new job after being laid-off from the company (his main income job aside from the church).  My children prayed for this friend each and every night without fail…despite the fact that they have never even met.  They only know him as “Daddy’s twitter friend” and refer to him as “Pastor _______” as if they, too , know him.

I know when to pray for my friends, when to praise with them, when to provide encouragement, and when to give accountability.  I honestly thought about titling this post “And then…God created twitter!”  It is true – God is the author of all things…and, believe me, God knew of the many ways that things like “silly, trivial, little-old blogs and twitters and facebooks” could be used in awesome ways.

What’s your status?

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