Where is the Poster Child

July is the month of rest for me. Although I am around, I will not be around cyber-space. Posting will resume in August. Have a great summer.

Imaginary hunters with real bullets

We are all wise enough to know that with every good freedom also come dangerous trappings. The Internet is like a beautiful wide-open pasture of information to graze on. Yet under all that brain food and entertainment are landmines.

I heard about a crazy notion back in the 90s. There were two serious problems that needed resolving.

1. In the former Yugoslavia there were thousands of unexploded land mines buried in the countryside. They were responsible for killing completely innocent civilians and children long after the civil war was over.

2. In England there was an outbreak of BSE in the cattle there, requiring that complete herds be slaughtered to stop the spread of the disease.

You can probably put two and two together of what the crazy idea was.

Sometimes I worry about encouraging people to start blogging. Am I inadvertently sending the innocent one into the field to defuse landmines?

Blogging is wonderful for the freedom of communication that it offers. We do not have to get our articles cleared by a publisher. We can reveal information to a society that needs to know about governmental inconsistencies, and cover-ups. We can express ourselves any way we want.

Yet therein lies the problem. The tongue is the hardest body part to control. If it has free reign of our blogs, who knows what trouble will land on us or other people. The blog is like Pandora’s box. Once you publish, it is out there, and even deleted, it might still haunt you. Text Sticks. It is as easy as Control-A, Control-C, Alt-Tab, Control-V.

What I am saying is, (singing) be careful little hands what you type. General rule of thumb…assume that your friends, lovers, enemies, and bosses are reading your blog. Imagine your girlfriend’s father and your Student Dean reading it every night. Otherwise, we might find ourselves on the business end of a pink slip.

We can also forget that there are predators out there. Like a gopher blissfully enjoying the sunny day, we might squeak out some delightful personal information, unknowingly compromising our safety. Then, like a hawk coming out of the sun, an identity thief, hacker, or sex offender shocks us with the reality that cyberspace is not a game. Pseudonyms and alternate personas are like camouflage. Both hunters and the hunted use it. Carnivores are hunters with no mercy, which means they are searching for hours to find some innocent blogger who says too much.

Beware the feedback of someone that is suspicious. Anybody can post anonymously, or sign someone else’s name. Don’t take feedback to heart unless you are certain of the author.

Last thought, how many of you have read someone else’s blog and said, “Ooh, I didn’t need to know that.” Remember that the blog is not the place to unburden your soul, tell your secrets, or confess your sins. That is what best friends, diaries, and confessional booths are for. This is not insincere; it is just wise and tasteful.

I would like to grow this post into a larger article. If you have any other trapping that you can think of, leave a comment.

Safe blogging my friends.

Promo Time

This is your chance to be in pictures. If you are going to be a student at FGBC this next year, we are going to be taking promotional pictures for our material on June 27th, 2006. If you have ever wanted to be in the Catalogue, Life publication, posters or anything else, this is your chance.

The recruitment team will be in Eston on the 27th, so if you have the day off and live close enough to Eston to make the trip, then come on down...or up...or over. Bring a few changes of clothes, preferably casual, classy/elegant, and profesional.

Our gift to the world

Who gives this woman to be married?

I am not ready for that question yet. Of course, my daughter is not even two, but when that day comes I don’t know what I am going to say. “Her mother and I” is the right answer, but I might just say… “I changed my mind” or “When you get a better job” or maybe “Work for me for seven years and then you can marry her.”

Sending kids off can be an anxious season for parents. Every year we see it here when Mom helps her baby(strikethrough- sorry Ryan, I couldn’t figure out how to do strikethrough so I just italicised it. Can you do that?) young man move into the dorms. Will he be OK? Will he be able to sleep here? Will the college realize how great this guy really is?

After investing for 18 years, there is a lot of love, sweat, and fears going into this student.

We feel something like that at graduation. When the students who have been with us for four years cross the floor, there is so much pride and joy. There is also a bit of dread. Will they make it? Will they be accepted? Will their potential be realized?

This year I especially felt that with this graduating class. They are brimming with talent and potential. They have great attitudes, and sincere hearts. They are experienced enough to be helpful, but wise enough to go into life as learners.

After thriving at FGBC for four years they develop the habits of a high performance Christian community. They have become dear friends and they will desire that Body of Christ experience for the remainder of their lives. This group has the potential to bring that ethos into the environments that they are going into. They will be change agents.

So I am both excited and nervous. I feel like we, the staff and faculty, are sending this group to the world as our present. Here is our gift. We are so proud of them, and we will be their biggest fans. Of course, we cannot take full credit. We can barely take partial credit behind God and parents. But we cannot help feeling that they are ours.

Please treat them well. Please give them opportunities. Please welcome, protect, and love them. You will discover that they are smart, loving, energetic, with a lot to offer.

“Who gives these students…?”