Indebted to grace

I recently picked up a book I read many years ago called Grace Matters by Chris Rice. He signed it for me and just his words are a great reminder to me.

How Social Media Allowed AT&T To Keep Me As A Customer

My buddy Rev Andy Stoddard writes on his blog a good bit about social media and the power of properly using it. Today I found out that power. I have a Blackberry Bold 9700. I updated the software to the new blackberry 6.0 and it locked up my phone. When I reverted back to BB 5.0 many keys on my phone ceased working. After trying to fix it I opted for an early upgrade. I went to Turtlecreek mall to visit Mobile Solutions to upgrade to the Samsung Captivate. She called to authorize an early update and was told I'd had too many suspensions of service in the past 6 months. Let's stop here. For those who only know me through this blog not personally, you probably don't know that these past 6 months have been some of the toughest in my life. I march my mother totaled her car and was unable to work until about two weeks ago. Also beginning about January my uncles Leukemia became more aggressive as he continued to fight it with the help of my family mainly my mother despite her accident and subsequent surgery. Despite all this AT&T felt they still couldn't allow me an upgrade despite the circumstances even though my blackberry is only halfway functioning. So what is my response? well besides telling my mother, I take to twitter with and tag all posts related to the event with the ATT hashtag.

 

After that tweet plus one more I got a new follower. AT&T customer care started following me on twitter and I received this message.

After DM'ing ATT my information and the circumstances surrounding this saga, they called me and talked to me. At the end of the day my new Samsung Captivate is in the mail for half of what I was going to pay to upgrade it, my family still is with AT&T, and I'm very thankful that I signed up for that Twitter thing that people said would probably never catch on. Sure it wasn't the Egyptian Revolution but I'm very thankful and I'm sure AT&T  is that they made having a legitimate social presence an important idea. Their social media saved them one customer and allowed me to believe that AT&T does have some people that still care about each individual customer.

Movie Review: The Mormon Proposition

This was a rather interesting movie that kept popping up under the cultural documentaries tab on Netflix so I finally watched it. What a surprise it was. The movie details the Mormon churches work to fund the Yes on Prop 8 campaign in California without anyone finding out they were the ones who were doing a majority of the monetary backing. The film is well researched and documented. I knew of the organizations that supported and opposed proposition 8 but I didn't know that the Mormon church was one of the main backers as well as conducted surveys to see how their open support as the Mormon church for it would help or hurt the campaign to pass proposition 8. The film details how the surveys show an unfavorable opinion of the Mormon church and how the church hierarchy decides they must team up with other denominations in this case the Catholic Church to form an organization.  The film then details how the church flows funds through the organization without revealing that it is the Mormon Church providing the funds to prevent the public's opinion of the Church hurting the likelihood of Prop 8 passing. I also have to admit the film kind of angered me to an extent. You have a right to believe what you want to believe but you must also be bold enough to stand up and say it and deal with possible backlash. I was offended at how the Mormon Church could believe so passionately about something and then be so afraid to actually let people know they were in support of it. Regardless of if you were for or against Proposition 8 in California, this documentary is an interesting look at the most expensive ballot measure in the history of US elections

Book Review: Heroin Diaries

Okay Let me start off by saying this book is not for everyone. If you're someone who simply can't tolerate reading harsh language you will not enjoy this book. I'm very fortunate to help out with The Open Door here in Hattiesburg. Many of the people who come through our doors are in recovery. They are recovering from some type of addiction. This book is basically a diary kept by Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue fame during one year from Christmas to Christmas. As someone who had a drug addicted and alcohol addicted father I found the book incredibly raw and interesting. I was too young to really understand what life with my father was like so this is the first glance I really got into what an addict deals with, feels like, and experiences on a day to day basis. As I said, the book is very raw there is some course language in the book but nothing worse than you would hear at the London Airport. It's a very candid glimpse into what addiction looks like for those who haven't seen it first hand. There's a section of the book where Nikki talks about being so high he was paranoid and locked himself in his closet with a shotgun for protection. For me this book allowed me insight into a world I had only heard of before. The struggles with addiction have lead Sixx to work and help free others from the hellish nightmare that is addiction.

Confessions of an addict

I know understand my friends who are completely sold out for Apple Inc. No I'm not selling out to apple, but I did realize this morning lots of the things I used are either owned or powered by Google. I'm a Google addict. This blog is powered by blogger which is a google powered app. Monday i'm getting a new phone since my blackberry has "critical errors" and guess what the phone I want it powered by android which is in turn powered by yep you guessed it Google. The cherry on top is I'm now on Google+. If you don't know Google+ is google's still in the testing phases social networking center.When fully launched it's expected to go head to head with facebook and honestly so far I like it better than facebook. I hope everyone has a wonderful day and I'll be posting some various reviews later today.

Spiritual Gifts

A lot of my pastor friends have been talking about the Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts this summer. Strangely I haven't gotten overloaded on it but have actually enjoyed it immensely. My buddy Andy wrote about Spiritual Gifts and invited people to take a survey over at his blog. I had never before taken a spiritual gift inventory but was interested so I took it. If you'd like to take a spiritual gifts survey click here. You'll be amazed at how easy this test makes it to realize the parts of your personality that are there because they are gifts from God. The UMC Website has a section on spiritual gifts that includes film and media that displays your spiritual gifts. My three gifts were these:

Mercy / Compassion (Serving Gift) - The special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain Christians to feel exceptional empathy and compassion for those who are suffering (physically, mentally, or emotionally) so as to feel genuine sympathy for their misery, speaking words of compassion, but more so caring for them with acts of love that help alleviate their distress.  The UMC mentions Attitcus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird as being an excellent film example of compassion and mercy. Guess that's why I love the book so much.


Knowledge (Speaking Gift) - The special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain Christians to understand in an exceptional way the great truths of God's Word and to make them relevant to specific situations in the church. Also, the desire to seek out and learn as much about the Bible as possible through gathering much information and the analysis of that data


Helps / Serving (Serving Gift) - The gift that enables a believer to work gladly behind the scenes in order that God's work is fulfilled. The special ability God gives to some to serve the church in a supporting roll or to invest their talents in the life and ministry of other members of the body enabling them to increase their effectiveness.


I feel these gifts are incredibly accurate. I hope that my friends would agree they see these spiritual gifts in me. What are your spiritual gifts?

What I learned from the Casey Anthony trial

My last blog was long so I'm going to try and keep this one short. I learned quite a few things from the Casey Anthony trial. God's Grace is needed by allpeople. There needs to be grace for all those involved with this trial, and grace for everyone who attacked Casey Anthony after she was found not guilty of the charges. The effect CSI and Law and Order have had on the average couch potato is way more than scientists believe. Many of the people who passed judgement on the case from the comfort of their own couch did so with "knowledge" acquired from watching hours of shows like CSI and Law and Order. The other half that were outraged were outraged because Nancy Grace told them she was guilty. That brings me to my next point. Nancy Grace doesn't need to be on tv. That being said it's a double edged blade. Her incessant use of her catchphrase "tot mom" was like watching the "meow game" in Super Troopers except way less entertaining.

It seemed like she intentionally tried to slip in Tot mom where someone would refer to Casey Anthony by name. However Nancy Grace was her own worse enemy. As noted by Brian Dickerson over at the Detroit Free Press. The publicity Nancy Grace gave to the trial allowed Casey Anthony to have a decent attorney rather than the court appointed one she would have received had this been any other case with less media.


 The response to the verdict from Nancy Grace was overwhelming but then so too was the response from the Christian community. Around the country devoted followers of Christ cried foul and demanded "justice". It's funny how when we as Christians are wronged we demand justice from God on our behalf, but when we find ourselves in the position of the one hurting another we cry out to God for mercy. Mercy and Grace are what we all need. I don't mean Nancy Grace. Truth be told modern tv could do a lot better without her on tv every night. This trial also reminded me of some very happy positive things. First and foremost I'm no better than a murderer and need God's mercy and grace just as much. Also it reminded me to be thankful that I live in a country that regardless of how I feel about the verdict I'm free to be judged by a jury of my peers. May God hold close his children who are hurting on either side of this tragedy. Amen

Washington's Prayer for the Nation

Today the United States is celebrating Independence Day. Today the Declaration of Independence was ratified declaring we are free from the tyranny of British rule. While we do honor those who have fought for freedom, today is more about honoring the Declaration itself and the framers. In honor of Independence Day, I offer George Washington's Prayer for the Nation

"Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in thy holy protection, that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large.

And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.

Grant our supplications, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." -George Washington June 8th, 1738

On this day when we Americans celebrate our freedom from tyranny may we remember as Washington did without humble imitation of Jesus Christ we are not to be a happy nation.