fb free for two weeks!

I knew I was probably (weak confession here) spending too much time on fb.  I would justify it like this---

• I want to keep up with family that live far away
• I have reconnected with old college or military friends
• I know more about people in my church from fb than I do from going to church together
• I get to see pictures

Unfortunately I was settling for the good instead of receiving the best.  Mostly because I am just not very well disciplined.  So I would go to check my email in the morning and wind up on fb and then wonder what happened to my morning and why I did not get more accomplished.  Then I heard a podcast from Revive Our Hearts offering a 30-Day Media Reduction challenge.  I felt pricked to take part but did nothing about that.  A few weeks later Andrea blogged about that challenge.  I made a half hearted commitment to do it with her.  But I could not believe how many times I “just took a peek” at fb!  I am very fickle sometimes. 

So then the Lord just brought it straight home to me…”could this be an idol”?  We are studying the book of Isaiah this year in BSF and the people of Judah were being confronted by God, among other things, for their idolatry.  I rationalized that fb was not an idol because I still had my quiet time.  Then Alethea, our teaching leader gave this as a definition of an idol…anything that I put the word “I” or “My” in front of. I immediately thought of “my time” and specifically “my time on fb”. Well, maybe it is an idol??  Still, very little action. 

So the next Sunday while we were watching the Broncos, I had my laptop out.  I needed  to do some things on line for BSF.  But first…just real quick…I was going to check my fb.  I was flattered to be getting a message from someone I knew in my youth group…who never before talked with me on fb.  I opened the message and things started happening to my lap top and just like the Broncos, in a matter of minutes, everything was gone!  Unbelievable!  (It seems we had never gotten around to getting bsafe put on my laptop.  Thankfully though, I did have carbonite!)

Wally was very good to take my laptop in right away and even paid extra for a fast diagnosis.  I had it back the next day.  So it was a hard-learned lesson, not to mention expensive, but I finally was willing to give up fb. The truth is Wally has never been too crazy about fb.  The day after my laptop meltdown, he heard some things about it on talk radio.  So we just decided to part ways with fb!

You know what, after more than two weeks…and not even taking a little peek… I have not missed it that much. All those reasons for wanting to be on fb…

• Most of my family hardly gets on fb.  email and the phone are still the preferred methods
• The reconnection of old friends and school mates was also weak.  We are just as connected on email
• I don’t have to know the day to day comments of my church friends to stay connected…that’s what prayer and fellowship is about
• My nephew’s wife sent pictures to me in the mail this week of their girls.  And it was fun to get them in the mail!
• I can still stay connected to those in fb because Andrea linked my fb to my email.  If someone does want to talk to me I can see it without having to  “be on fb”!
• I might miss a little bit but I really like my blog and the blogs that I like.  I have more time for them now
• When we want to, Wally and I can catch up sometime

I think that is more reasons why not to be fb than I had to be on it!