Virtual Church...good or bad

How much time do you spend on the Internet? Is that an easy answer? For some, that is like asking how often you breathe. They are always on the Internet. The new Western-world reality is, we are all connecting, communing, buying, selling, dating, relating, informing, entertaining, learning, reflecting, expressing, exploring and/or searching.

When it comes to spiritual matters it is no different...

A Pew Internet survey of more than 1,300 Christian, Jewish, and Unitarian congregational leaders detailed their web use:

91% use e-mail to keep congregation and staff in touch
81% believe e-mail use by ministers, staff, and members helps the congregation’s spiritual life
77% use the web to find information on the Bible, Torah, and other religious books
72% use the web to pull together information for educational programs
72% use the web to get devotional material
54% look up information on faith matters
- Current Thoughts & Trends, June 2002

When you hear the words "virtual church" what do you think? Is it possible to be have a virtual church? We have added this feature to our new site. To what degree should the church use the Internet? Is it possible to be a church exclusively on the Internet? Do you use the Internet in your own faith development and expression?

Let me hear from you. I like blogs that are dialogues not monologues. Share your thoughts!

Insomnia is a big word at 3 AM

What do you do when you can't sleep? I woke up this morning at 3:00, with a few things (not a lot) on my mind, nothing heavy or too big, nothing that certainly couldn't wait a few more hours until I finished my sleep. Going to sleep at midnight and waking up at 3:00 (easy math: 3 hrs of sleep) really stinks. What does one do with insomnia?

I toss and turn, I pray, I review a few scriptures in my head (I have heard that the Devil will knock you out cold when you do that); I think about the tasks ahead in the day; I think about the unresolved issues of yesterday(s); I get up and type on a blog (that's a new one).

I am asking the blogisphere, what do you do when you can't sleep? Preferably, I am looking for non-chemical options. I am looking for any organic, natural, home-remedies, spiritual or otherwise, help.

I really don't think I am more holy if I get up before normal "carnal" people. The great revivalists Whitefield, Edwards and Wesleys of old would be up early praying at this time (I am not that "holy" if that's what holiness is). There are many times that God has awakened me at 2, 3, 4 in the morning and spoken soundly into my life (Isaiah 50:4), and I am grateful for those times. This morning, I don't believe is one of those times. God " enjoys giving rest to those he loves" (The Message -Psalm 127:2). I am all about getting what God is giving. I want rest and need rest.

I certainly don't need to let tomorrows issues rob me of today's rest (Matthew 6:34). I've heard it said: "Don't borrow sorrow from tomorrow, or it will rob your joy today."

So what do you do when you have insomnia? Insomnia is a big word to try to spell on a blog at 3 am, especially when you struggle with grammar and spelling on a good day and a full night's sleep. Please forgive any dangling prepositions, misplaced modifiers, incorrect spelling, etc. Give me a break, I've only had 3 hrs of sleep, what do you expect?!

I hate blogs

I hate blogs. I have always thought bloggers were people with to many words in their head and no one to listen to them. So they write, rant, express, share opinions like they really think people are reading them and care what they have to say.



Now what I am doing? I am blogging! Am I crazy? No, just a hypocrite. Am a blogger with nothing to say??? What does this, my first ever entry on anybodies blog, say about me? I am a person with too many words that no one will listen to but I am going to say them the the world anyway, as if someone really was reading them.:) I think the Bible says something about being quicker to "hear, than to speak" (James 1:19).



Hopefully, if you are reading this and you become a regular "guest" to my blog, I hope what you read will actually find my words to have some weight and value to your life and it will give grace to you when you hear it (Ephesians 4:29). I promise if you respond to my blogs, I will be quicker to hear, than to speak.