Author: Wick

So I gotta admit, technology is pretty fascinating. As if being a regular blogger weren’t enough…
Here are my guilty steps towards nerd-dom lately:

1. Adium (for MAC), and Pidgin (for PC). Using these multi-client chat programs, you can log on to yahoo, MSN, AIM, Myspace, Facebook, Google talk, and most other programs out there. All on one single buddy list. It makes it easier when you’re a youth pastor and everyone prefers a different mode of chatting.

2. Twitter. You know how Facebook allows you to change your “status”, and everyone can see what you’re up to? Imagine being able to update a status from anywhere on your cell phone, and anyone who subscribes via their cell phone will receive the update. They can also simply receive the update on their twitter homepage. Create an account, you’ll love it…and follow me: pastorwick

3. I Twitter my Facebook and my blog. You can connect twitter to your facebook account, so that your facebook status updates automatically whenever you twit. You can also create a small section of your blog (see right column) that updates whenever you twit.

4. Cha-Cha. You can text ANY question on ANY subject, ANY time of the day. A REAL person will search for the answer on the internet (if it’s factual), or make one up on the spot (if it’s an opinion). You can access the service on your cell phone by texting to 242-242 (cha-cha), or going to the link here. For proof of my nerdiness, I’ve just texted them the question, “How nerdy am I?”…..to which they’ve sent the response: “My magic 8 Ball says the outlook is not so good.”

5. I think I’ve read more books in the past year than all 4 years in college combined.

Well, guess I still have a long way to go. I actually have friends who know what linux is, and why it’s awesome. As long as I still have them, I suppose my nerdiness is simply a mild infection. Nothing serious, yet.

If you were looking forward to watching reruns of “Barnyard” during this past Saturday afternoon, you may have noticed something about the programming for Nickelodeon that day.

There was none.

That’s right, this past Saturday, from Noon until 3pm, Nickelodeon went off the air. Instead of regular scheduled incredible animated reruns, it was a black screen that reminded families to go outside and be active. To enjoy the weather, and do something off the couch.

I’d like to say we smiled, looked at each other, and said, “wow, Nickelodeon is right, we should go walk laps around the neighborhood.” But we didn’t. I can’t remember exactly what we did…but it probably didn’t burn too many calories. It happened during Addison’s naptime anyways.

The skeptic side of me wondered what sort of upgrades Nickelodeon had to do to their systems, or what other hidden benefit they had to going off air for 3 hours.

But overall, I was pleasantly surprised. And if there was some sentiment of self-sacrifice for the good/health of the kids who usually are babysat by burning Nickelodeon images into their retinas…then bravo. I think it’s that kind of mentality that major corporations, entire product lines, and the economy in general needs to be able to take. To make sacrifices more often, to encourage/promote not themselves, but actual healthy and responsible lifestyles.

But not once in the lifetime of a company/channel/person. A regular happening. I guess this is the 4th annual one for Nickelodeon. Which is great, but still….to make a sacrifice once a year probably doesn’t hurt them much.

To the neglect of profits, and with larger picture interests in mind. I hope we continue to see things like this. Thanks Nick.

Finally finished Ted Dekker’s newest book, “Sinner”. It took me longer than usual for a Dekker book, although not because it was difficult to read. I think I just had more stuff going on this week than usual. Although I have to admit, his formula seems to be repeating itself.

The book takes place like 30 years from now, and “tolerance” has become the new trend. Muslims have replaced Christians as the religious base in America, and both are seen as weak for their dependency on religion as a crutch. Religion is relegated to private locations, and rarely seen or heard. Especially after a new law is passed (through mind controlling the senate/etc.) that calls any declaration of faith a “hate crime” against those of any other or no faith.

The whole basis of the book sounds like it came out of Grandma Conservatives’ fear closet.

Unfortunately, I’m sure many Christians will read this book, and freak out, thinking, “Oh my word, this could totally happen”. You can read an interview with Dekker (on the 700 club, oh man…does he still want people to read his book? ) People will think they need to fight for free speech rights, and fight for the right to party with Jesus and all that.

Someone might even look at this, that happened recently, and use it as fodder for the point. But we can all recognize that this is NOT a statement of love, and not something Christians should be involved in.

The truth is, as much as tolerance WILL probably become something important over the next 50 years, I don’t think we need to be afraid. Unless we’re Ted Dekker, in which case we might want to fear what our involvement with CBN will do to our readership.

Then again, looking at the article on his website, I dunno. It takes examples of high school students wearing offensive (even to me) shirts, and says “look, the government is shutting down free speech!!”.

Yes, people in other places of the globe suffer for claiming Christ. They have in the past, they do today. We need to be in prayer for them. But I would assume even the Atheist community in America would stand on their behalf. Our constitution will not be changed anytime soon.