Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and it is a time to spend with Family, loved ones, and friends. A time that we reach out to our relationships, eat too much food, have a good excuse for being lazy, and hopefully reflect on the many things we are thankful for.
Thankful, according to Wikipedia, is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received. All of us have received something, no matter how small and it is our attitude that defines our outlook on life. Are you thankful?
...always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Ephesians 5:20
This was fun last year and this year JibJab, along with OfficeMax, have updated and added new dance moves to everyone's favorite Elf Yourself competition. My two little girls get the biggest kick out of seeing their Mom and Dad dance across the stage.
Of course I needed to have a bit more fun, so decided I would add my parents into a video of their own. So here they are, along with their dog Max, showing off those Christmas disco moves!
Oh that wondrous feeling of freedom, the bliss of independence, that life marker we all remember, receiving our drivers license and heading out on our own for the first time. My daughter made a decision to wait until she was 18 to apply for her driver's license (as a parent I had no problem with this). Today her step-mom took her over to the DMV and less than 30 minutes later my daughter was coming back smiling and radiating confidence, or maybe that was fear? We all remember feeling excited, nervous, or more or less just plain scared but man what an adrenalin rush.
I am proud of my daughter, who continues to work hard while going to college and being the best she can be.
Twitter - the next social myspace phenomenon? Who knows but one thing I do know that in the few short months I have been using this micro-blogging site I have turned acquaintances into friendships. Meaning that in the past I would see someone and while passing would, say hi, how are you, what's going on...to walking out of our way to engage in meaningful conversation that does not need the usual introductory phrases to get going.
One of our associate pastors and now someone I can call a friend, recently posted on his blog about a vision he had for our Church. His vision is one of a community that shares when together but also continues to grow and share while apart, using a twitter or another such medium.
Recently when responding to a group of fellow servants I wrote this about twitter:
"Now, for the last mention and that is the online community, which seems to be growing at Journey. The example I will use is Tara's husband and we all know him from his Service Hosting, Rod Kaya. Rod was someone that I would see, maybe say hi, he'd say hi back, and than we would go on our way. Through the online world of blogs (RodsProd provides some wonderful insight to the behind the scenes of Journey), Facebook, and Twitter Rod and I discovered that we had much more in common than either would have guessed (Sports, Gadgets, Books, etc...). Now when we see each other we have conversations, not just passing greetings. Also, with something as simple as Twitter when I see my online friends in person, instead of wasting valuable time trying to catch up with their life happenings I can get straight to the point (e.g. how was the trip? You lost to Todd on Fantasy Football. So you like Target Orange Slurpees? You are a Phillies Fan) well, you get the point. "
Want to see what I am doing, just look in the right hand column to see my twitter updates.
Lastly, I want to share this two minute and 25 second video on twitter in plain English, enjoy and I hope to see you on twitter:
