marching to a different drum beat...

So this morning I get up and and go to a coffee shop with wireless Internet to have fun experimenting with blog stuff and hang out with my friend Dave. Its cold out and not just like 'o i should wear a jacket' cold like 'i should warm my car up for 15 minutes before i think about getting in' kinda cold. So I start my car and then eat breakfast and head off to the coffee shop. There it is nice to be on the Internet without the blocks, passwords and Internet security warnings of my parents computer. I can go to 'my space' and read my friend josh's blog for the first time in like a month. It's probably a good thing to have Internet protection and etcetera but sometimes it annoys me greatly. Whilst sitting there in front of my computer and Dave in front of his I thought about conformity. The fact that I was drinking a chai latte (for the second time in as many days) and writing on my blog brought about these thoughts.

I have made efforts and repeated stands against conformity. Mainly I avoid things that 'every one else' is doing like nalgenes (yes keren I know that people buy them because there good water bottles) and the purpose driven life. (I think ipods might be soon added to this list if not already) I seem to recently have conformed too several things doing things that 'everybody else' is doing... for example having a fav. drink at coffee shops, getting a blog, getting a cell phone etc etc. A friend told me that next I'll be owning a nalgene when I showed him my cell phone. This blog is a good thing I think it allows me to communicate to people that I don't see ever day and update them on how life is going. It also gives me something I can look back to to see what God has done in my life. I tend to forget after a few seconds sometimes what God has taught me etc. For that matter i tend to forget what I'm talking about...

(a few seconds later)

Now where was I? O yes the industrial revolution and how it was neither industrial, nor a revolution.

Next on the list to defend and justify was my cell phone. I don't need it. I could get along fine without it but its handy to have , especially if i go somewhere to visit people i can call them without having to stop get out of the car into the freezing cold weather and find a pay phone. One time when I was stuck in the ditch I had my dads cell phone and it was use full because I could call my dad and he could get a tow truck and etc. but that is (you guessed it) another story for another time. The chai latte is just a good drink and since i don't enjoy the taste of coffee its a good alternative. (Side bar: The one I had today was ridiculously expensive!!!)

Conformity is a tricky thing. Especially with being a Christian. "do not conform to the patterns of this world" I went to church the other day and the group there had a discussion about what exactly it means to 'not love the world' and 'anything of the world is not of God.' God also tells us that He 'so loved the world.' We came to the conclusion that there was a difference between the people and some of the worldly things. It seems to be a theme working its way into my life. There are things that as a christian I shouldn't conform to. If I 'join the club'(i hear they have hats) on such things then i become like every body else and it takes me away from God. I guess the thing for me to do is evaluate the things i do and conform to. Does my cell phone
take me away from God? yes it does..but it also could be used to connect me to other Christians...does my chai latte drinking take me away from God. I don't really think so and while I drank one i had conversations with other Christians and it could lead to mutual accountability etc. My blog i already mentioned the looking back aspect. but it could take the time away that I could/should spend with God.

I'm glad I conformed in some ways by getting this blog. It has been rather fun so far. The novelty hasn't worn off and i still post fairly regularly unlike some people I know. Granted I have unlimited Internet access and basically no social life...

well I hope all these thoughts made sense to you add your comments about conformity and etc. There is so much more i could've writed about on here but for now I'll sign off and catch you next time or on the flip side or whatever it is that's the popular phrase these days....

not just marching to a different drum beat...beating a different drum

-luKe

p.s. I hope i dont get in to any trouble using these pictures...