Re-post from the fall:  I’m still relatively new to the social media scene, but I’ve picked up a few tips on how to avoid making it all about me.  Maybe you’ll pick up a tip here or perhaps you could share one of your own with the rest of us!  Here are 5 Ways to Be Selfless on Twitter or Facebook:

1. Read other people’s stuff and comment. What a great way to show others that you care about what they have to say!  You’d be amazed what you can learn from other people.  Seeing life from another perspective is always a great way to grow!

2. Get to know five other people online today. Read their profile and learn about who they are.  Ask them to tell you more about one of their interests.  Social media is a fabulous way to build relationships with others, but the when the relational aspect is removed it can easily become Social ME-dia!  The minute it becomes about ME, it loses its luster.

3. Find a tweet you like and re-tweet. Don’t be Re-tweet Pete  and re-tweet everything your see, but if you like something someone has to say, share it with others.

4. Try to spend a whole day showing nothing but interest in others. Don’t post anything, unless it is about what you see in someone else. Express interest in anyone but yourself! This reminds us that the earth revolves around something besides us.  Try this for a day and see what happens!

5. When you do write your own stuff, ask questions and initiate conversation. Chances are, you don’t “own” the market on a particular subject.  Anyone who says they have an original thought (including this one) may very well likely be giving testimony to their own lack of perspective.  What a great way to show love by seeking feedback and response from others!

Ed Young said once, “When your ambition ends with you, your ambition will end you.”  What a great reminder! Concerning social media, what did I miss? What are some other ways to make sure social media isn’t just just about me? I’m sure there are a ton of other tips out there, please share!

At the moment of inspiration you have a choice. Make the right choice.

The world will tell you many things. Your inspiration means nothing.  It will help no one.  It is an idea, a farce- nothing more.  This is what the world will say.

Should you listen? You can do whatever you want.  It’s your choice.

What if you don’t listen? What if you believe that inspiration could do something?  Change something?  Someone?

It could. Just under a year ago I was inspired to write.  The world said no, my mind said no.  My heart said yes.

So I started to write. Here was my first post.  Since that time, this blog has grown some.  It’s still a small blog, but nearly every day I get a note from someone who has been touched, inspired, changed.  Thank you for the notes!

So here’s the deal. At the Moment of Inspiration, you have a choice.  You can listen to what the world says (your inspiration will lead to nothing, go nowhere) or you can make a another choice.

The choice to do what you know is right. The choice to go against the odds.  The choice to believe when you can’t see.  You can make the choice to follow your gut and go down a different road.

I don’t know what this looks like for you. Maybe its something like this.  Probably its something different.  Whatever it is there is a moment that you have a decision to make.  At The Moment of Inspiration, you have a choice.  Make the right choice!

Thoughts?  Love to hear in the comments below.  Why it is so difficult to move past the moment of inspiration and so easy to listen to the voices of the world?

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First there was 29 Signs You’re Having a Love Affair with Twitter (or Facebook).  Now this…

Little Timmy Tweets a lot, tweet, tweet, tweet
Tweeting in the shower and tweeting in his sleep
Tweeting cause his broccoli is green, green green
Tweeting when a song makes him sing sing sing

Little Timmy Tweets a lot, tweet tweet tweet
Tweeting on an ice cream run, sweet sweet sweet
Tweeting while he’s walking cross a busy street
Tweeting cause it makes him feel oh so neat

Tweeting in the morning, tweeting at lunch,
tweeting bout the waffles that he ate for brunch.
Tweeting in the evening, tweeting at night.
Tweeting bout the dude that he thinks he can fight.

Little Timmy Tweets a lot, bout to take a nap.
Start to get sleepy so he tweets about that.
Nap ends early, so he tweets that too.
Little Timmy, what would Twitter do with out you?!!

Know any Little Timmy Tweets a Lots?  Let us know about it in the comments… Are you one?  Let’s get a confession baby!

New to TheWayItCouldBe.com? This is a site promoting cultural impact through personal and spiritual transformation. Post topics include creativity, family, faith, culture, social media and leadership. Feel free to browse around by category. If you dig the site, you can subscribe for free email updates by simply entering your email address in the sidebar out to the right.

In Eastern Europe people of all walks of life live as though it could be their last meal. Thousands walk the streets in search of belonging and surviving.  It tells us of the injustice in our world, that even kids could be born into poverty and not have a chance really.   Even in my city, little ones might not be warm enough at home or have food every day, so their education becomes an afterthought, survival takes a front seat.  Others are strapped with diseases, addictions, hardships, you name it.

What does the church do about it? For some, a lot.  A sad thing in the past is when churches say this:  “We will pray for them and preach the gospel.”  Man, I don’t think prayer is bad at all.  In fact, I believe it is the starting point and everything hinges around that very thing.  Still, if the effort stops there, it seems like we fall short.  I don’t think preaching the gospel is bad either.  In fact, I believe if we’re not doing that, we are still falling short and missing the point.  Seems to be a third ingredient missing though….  Maslow may have been on to something when he said people have basic needs that must be met before they can worry about other needs.  Not sure.

There is a school I know of with a huge church next door.  We asked the school what the church has done to reach out to the school and they said basically, “come in and preach the gospel to the kids, then roll out.”  Really?  Again, its not that doing so is wrong or whatever, it just seems incomplete to me.

I think back to the story where Jesus is teaching thousands of people out in the countryside and the people are so into what he is saying that they are there all day, with no food.  His team comes to him and says, “lets send these guys away so they can go eat.”  Jesus looks at them and basically says, “you feed them.”  They take what small resources they have, pray about it, and next thing you know every one gets fed. Is he saying that the people have a physical need as well as a spiritual need? Looks like it.

Three ingredients seem important:  sharing the good news of the message of Christ, praying and meeting people’s physical needs.    Take out the gospel and you just have a social service.  Take out prayer and there is no power or often even provision.  Take out the physical need and we totally miss it.  It’s like in high school when I tried to make cookies and didn’t have flour, they just don’t taste the same!

So what does this look like in life? I’m not sure really.  But it could mean the guy at the bank whose marriage is falling apart may need help with his marriage.  The single mom down the street may just need someone to help her with her car so she can get to work.  The kid in the neighborhood may need a coat to make it through the cold night since his parents can’t afford to turn on the heat.

What can you do this week to help meet someone else’s need?  What if you prayed for a way to multiply the limited resources you have?  What if a door was opened up for you to then share the hope of Jesus?

Love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Caption please?

This picture of my little girl needs your caption in the comments!

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If you are a dad, a husband or friend, you need to watch this…

If you had 30 days to live, what would look different? Fathers, no regrets…Husbands, no regrets…Friends, no regrets… Comments?

Jesus was in reality the perfect expression of God on earth. To get a picture of who God really is, we can look to the life of Jesus.  On the contrary, many of us look to a variety of different places to form our view of God: who our parents told us He was, our past religious experience at church, our perceptions of weirdo Christians. 

This is totally normal for us to look to these authority figures to shape our views on God.  Tragically, when we look to these places to form our beliefs, many of us around the world are extremely let down by what we’ve found. Hear are a few words to describe the God some of us have found by looking around: Hateful.  Racist.  Boring.  Lifeless.  Unjust.

If you find yourself in this boat, you probably got there for a good reason. Perhaps someone or some group of people misled you, mistreated you or basically misrepresented who God really is (all people are imperfect)!  Or maybe you just haven’t yet met the real God.

So you have a few choices: One, believe that this (your current experience with God) is in fact who God really is, and go on with your life.  Hold on to your disappointment forever (like this) and risk being the bitter old person so many of us know.  Two, take another look.   If you decide to take another look and move past your previous let-downs, I would like to suggest that the real Jesus will not let you down if you truly seek him out with an open heart!  Take another look at Jesus, and you may just come to know the real God. Here are a few thoughts that come to mind:

He loves you regardless of your past mistakes. There is absolutely nothing you can do to make him love you more.  Nothing (Why I’ll Never Be a Super-Christian)

He is passionately pursuing you, like a father seeking out his missing child.  He won’t make you choose him (that wouldn’t be real love would it?), but He awaits for you to turn and come home to him.

He wants a new life for you.  Not one of rules or empty outward acts, but rather a passionate life of purpose, relationship and meaning.

He wants all of you. Surrendering your life to Jesus involves submitting your whole  self to him, bad habits and all.  Ask him to heal you and help you.   Ask Him to take all of you.

He wants you to be real with him. Confess your frustration and ask him to forgive you.  Maybe you need to forgive whoever it is that rubbed you wrong.  Maybe you are really mad at the person that represented God in your life (Tips For Forgiving Your Father).  Address Jesus as you would a person and he will make himself known to you when you come with a humble heart.

He expresses himself in the context of community.  Ask him to lead you to other believers that will encourage you.  Keep asking and step out in faith and look for a local church where you can really connect into community.

He is revealed in Scripture. Take a real look at the life of Jesus.  Most of the bad expressions of who God is today are contradictory to the Scriptures.

He is not religion.  He is not American cultural Christianity.  He is not dead (Jesus Goes Jogging). He is the son of God and he is the perfect expression of God on earth.  He has completely transformed my life, hundreds of friends lives and millions of people around the world.  He is ready to transform you too!

What step can you take today to get past the past and move on towards a life-changing relationship with God?  Do it… Why are many of us are let down by our past experience with God?  Love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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I’ve been a social media user for the last couple of years and seen both the benefits and limitations of sharing your life online.  We see benefits in terms of the power of connecting with others around the world, and joining in on a global conversation any time of the day!  We also see the limitations of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, with conversation not necessarily always leading to the community we so desperately desire.

It’s When Twitter Leaves You Lonely.  Just because I’m in a crowd doesn’t mean I have friends.  Just because I’m at the ocean doesn’t mean I know how to swim. I knew people in high school that were at EVERY party, EVERY weekend, and were EVERY bit as lonely as the guy at home.  The same applies online.

What is Twitter Loneliness?
Twitter Loneliness is like the guy in the crowd- no real connections.  It’s when you are surrounded by conversation, but have no real relationships (instead of Being Relationally Wealthy).

Evidence of Twitter Loneliness
Tons of followers or friends- nothing past surface conversation. Real, legitimate feelings of loneliness for a lack of relationships with real people.  There is nothing wrong with chit-chat; sometimes it is totally healthy!  However, talking about the weather or where you are going to dinner with a dozen people doesn’t necessarily lead to community.

Is Twitter Loneliness OK?
Sure, if you have people in your offline life that you connect with in any sort of significant relationship.  If you don’t have these type of people in your offline life or your online life, you are missing out on life!  You’ll be fine and I’m not trying to judge you, I’m just arguing that you will probably not experience the joys of living life in authentic relationship with other people.

How do I combat Twitter loneliness?
Online: Get into some other people’s lives. Don’t feel like you have to follow everyone; you will just spin your wheels and never move an inch.  Pick a handful of people to keep track of and start small.  Use lists, they work great for me.  Ask others about their lives, what they are experiencing, loving, or where they are struggling.  This is when social media gets fun!  I have a handful of guys I’ve become pretty close with, and we have never met in person or even talked on the phone.

Offline: Go grab coffee with someone, plug in at a church, get involved in your community.  Nothing beats a good, honest
relationship!  The same principles apply as above: ask about their lives, what they are experiencing, loving, or are frustrated with.  Take a risk and trust someone by opening your life up. I promise it’s worth it!

What if I don’t want to be “best friends” with everyone on Facebook or Twitter?
No big deal (you can make your own choices any way)!   I follow a ton of people on Facebook and Twitter just to keep track of what is going on in their lives.   I also follow several on Twitter that are mentors I may never meet.  Nonetheless, these people are not an attempt to replace real community in my life.

Ok, how else can we avoid Twitter Loneliness??  Love to hear your thoughts in the comments!  What above is tough for you?  Let’s chat!

New to TheWayItCouldBe.com? This is a site promoting cultural impact through personal and spiritual transformation. Post topics include creativity, family, faith, culture, social media and leadership. Feel free to browse around by category. If you dig the site, you can subscribe for free email updates by simply entering your email address in the sidebar out to the right.

When I was a general contractor and owner of a small home building company, I quickly learned that I wasn’t capable of much without others (25 Things I Learned). On my own, I could barely put a hammer to a nail, but with hundreds of bankers, vendors, tradesmen around me I could manage millions of dollars of construction projects at once. I learned during these 8 years: life is too short to work alone.

Today I work with a pretty innovative church that is partnering and supporting thousands of churches around the world.  I see even more evidence of the power of collaboration.  Every year I grow older and the evidence builds and builds- two is better than one, and a cord of three strands is rarely broken. There really is no “I” in TEAM!

Here are some thoughts about collective strength, the world and The Way It Could Be if WE worked together more. Here is The Power of WE:

WE: a two letter word that can change the world, one connection at a time.

WE is strong, it is a collective voice. It says, “Let’s recognize differences and be strengthened by them.”

WE acknowledges the individual. It says, “Let’s do this together because WE bring different gifts to the table.”

WE capitalizes on differing perspectives. It says, “Let’s offer our varying points of view and grow as a result!”

WE is relational insurance. It says, “When I am weak, I will rely on your strength and when you are weak, you can rely on me.”

WE trusts. It says, “I will take a risk and trust so that others will also take a risk and trust back.”

WE is humble. It says, “I am not that big of a deal.  WE are a BIGGER deal than ME!”

WE applied…

WE (social media users) can make an impact in the world when WE choose to use our voice for good and stand up for what is right.

WE (leaders) can learn more and do more when WE collaborate and innovate. As iron sharpens iron, one leader sharpens another.

WE (families) can stay together and beat the odds when we love, forgive and clarify the vision for our lives.

WE (believers) can do more when WE stand together as the church around the world.

What are your thoughts about WE?  Why is it so easy to get used to the word I?  WE would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Action Step Challenge 1: Count the number of times today that you say “I” compared to “WE“.  See if you don’t learn something about your perspective.

Action Step Challenge 2: What person or organization do you need to reach out to today so that you can include them when you say WE?

When I was a kid, I built forts- inside, outside, underground, you name it. I’m not sure what I thought I needed protection from; no one was invading our neighborhood or anything.  I think I just liked to build them and be creative.  We built them in the woods behind our house and would spend days cutting branches, moving limbs and building.  I would go out there and read books and hang out with friends and daydream.

Once we built a fort underground in my friends backyard. We dug this giant pit, then laid boards over the top and basically made an underground cave.  We called ourselves the “Gophers” and made shirts and everything.  It was a pretty exclusive club; that’s about all I can tell you about it.

Its just funny thinking back at all the crazy stuff we did, most of which came out of our right-brained creativity.  I think a lot of us lose that as we get older.  We develop a lifestyle that costs a certain amount, then we have a job to try to pay for that amount.  Its pretty basic, and it’s the way of life.  I just can’t help but wonder what would happen if we allowed that right brain creativity to come out again.  If we led other people to dream as well, hearing the things from our Creator that may not normally make sense to us.  Being like Him as we also create, build and venture out.

Could it be that life and to-do-lists have quenched that right side of your brain? Think about it.  What if you allowed your creativity to have a little more room?  What if you led other people to do the same thing in your place of influence, giving them a chance to dream a little?  What would this look like for you in real life?  Love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!