Have you ever been afraid that you were missing out on something good going on? That looking around you would see that somebody else was doing something more cool, more exciting, more entertaining?
I had never heard the term “FOMO” before hanging out with people who had been on the world race but as I began to think about it, I see it prevalent in our culture today. “FOMO” or fear of missing out shows itself in multiple ways but not nearly as in your face as our obsession with social media and getting our hands on the next best, next biggest thing. We had several wisdom talks throughout training camp but one of the re-occurring themes was how social media has become an addiction and how all of our gadgets are quickly becoming amongst our top priority. I hear it when people say it’s the first thing they for reach for when they wake up and I see it in my own life when I stop to scroll through Instagram while i have a friend right in front of me. I see it in the people lined up for two days before the newest iphone, ipad, ipod come out, the frantic grabbing for things during black Friday and something tells me we have missed it.
I want to be afraid of missing out on everything that God has right in front of me, FOR me. I don’t want to miss out on what He has for me because I am looking out of the corner of my eye at what He is doing in someone elses life, what He is calling someone else too. I don’t want to miss out on how his or her eyes light up because I am trying to take another picture to post on instagram or facebook. I want to laugh until I cry and watch as time crinkles the corners of my friends eyes, not because I have it documented online but because it’s etched into my memory. I want to be afraid of missing out on things that really matter, that really count. When I am laying on my deathbed I don’t think I will lament that I didn’t post one more instagram or one more status update on facebook, that I didn’t get just a few more likes or hearts on what I did post.
I intend on keeping my friends and family and all who are interested in what God is doing in my life and through me around the world as up to date as I can. It is a high privilege and I feel honored to be supported and invested in by all of you that have chosen to gather around me through prayer, through money, through encouragement but there are a few things I commit to do while I am overseas:
1. I commit to seeing the people in front of me, really seeing them. Taking the time to dive into them and their lives, to speak truth and love to. Not to be stopping every minute to take pictures to document them or my surroundings.
2. I commit to laying down my addiction to social media, just the information of knowing whats going on in everyones lives. There is nothing wrong with it, but when it begins to take up more time than stewarding the gifts inside of me and others, something is off balance. I want to put first things first.
3. We will be in countries, cities, villages where the Gospel hasn’t been heard before, instead of checking out via my laptop, or books, or movies, I will push into ALL that God has for me there and all that He has for the people there.
4. When I am hot, tired, spent, I will push for more, not out of my own strength but taking myself to the well that never runs dry, so that I can continue to give out of everything He has given to me.
I encourage and admonish you, have a deep fear of missing out on the things that really count wherever you are at. I truly believe I won’t look back in life and wish I had spent more time on Facebook or Instagram. Here’s to a new year of putting first things first and sucking the marrow out of the life we have been given!
