First, let me apologize for not blogging more, and in particular, not posting picture blogs NOR finishing the one picture blog that I attempted to post…. I'm learning. Funny, I never thought that part of me becoming a missionary would mean God encouraging me into 21st century technology. Up until a few weeks before the Race, I didn't have an iPad or an iPhone or even a well working laptop, and I was okay with that. My free phone made calls, had a texting plan with picture messaging, and could pull up google and my email – on a good day. I still relied on actual maps and printing off directions. I borrowed my mom's laptop and had a computer at work. I never thought of purchasing music on iTunes and my iPod was a free iPod shuffle I won while working in Baton Rouge during some hospital employee give-away. And the only reason I have music on it is because a friend of mine uploaded it. I DO have a really awesome camera, due to my mom… my technically-advanced mother. So, to say the least, my tech-savvy self is…..well, limited.
I was okay with not being fully "connected." I could go days without checking Facebook and feel completely satisfied and fulfilled with what I knew was going on in the world. I didn't want Facebook on my phone or to be notified every time I got a new message. There are too many things in the world that can interrupt my quiet and I like the quiet, I hear God there. Now, don't get me wrong, I love technology and fully appreciate the value of it. It's easier now than ever to connect with folks in your community and around the globe, to do good anywhere in the world, to be a missionary, to share the good news of Christ. Facebook itself is a platform. Not to mention twitter and all those other communication mediums I know nothing about. But here's the thing, God wants us connected.
This was evident to me when my boyfriend Eric and my mom said something to me about me taking a phone on the Race within 12 hours of each other, to which my response was, "If God wants me to have a phone, He'll give me one." Five days later through a series of random events, I had an iPhone given to me. GIVEN. Fully loaded with games and apps and the otter box I wanted. I've noticed that God loves to work in the random because you truly know it's Him. There is no way I could make this stuff happen!
It confused me a little at first, God saying all this tech stuff is good to take. I thought He would want me to surrender these things. What I'm learning is that it's all about control. God's not saying "delete," He's saying "control." He's been teaching me a lot about control over the past year; in my relationship with food, in my finances, in my television watching (which isn't even an option now), and in my dating relationship. God's showing me that it's about me being the master over the things in my life and not letting my things be master over me. Most everything has its good and bad. Being master over your things, possessing your stuff and not allowing your stuff to possess you, allows you to control whether something is used for good or bad in your life.
This perspective of living is really freeing and empowering. I see that the more I develop this, the more it seems God trust me with things. God has shown me that I can control my phone use, that I know that I don't "need" a phone to survive and therefore He trusts me, even more so, WANTS me to have a phone in an environment where the possession of a phone could really effect a racer's ability to let go and disconnect from their usual world and connect to the community culture of the Race.
It's pretty cool feeling God trust His children.
So, back to this apology for not blogging more and not posting picture blogs… like I said, I'm learning. Apparently, I need an app on my iPad to post pics to Facebook and another app to post pics to my blog, and…. you get the picture. I didn't know how much I have to learn on all this techy stuff until walking into this new journey. But, the good news is that God has surrounded me with lots of beautiful people that do know what they're doing, and… there's an app for that! 😉
Check out what God's been up to through my Team Dunamisses' blogs:
lizcloutier.theworldrace.org
ashleecastle.theworldrace.org
rebeccacoleman.theworldrace.org
karenthyer.theworldrace.org
lauraeconomides.theworldrace.org
Life abundant ~ monica
