The New Yorker: A Conversation on Technology

From The New Yorker’s recent article, The Visionary, about leading technology creator and critic, Jaron Lanier:

Lanier says social sites like Facebook and Twitter dehumanize people and create shallow interactions. He says we maintain an image of ourselves and give interest to other people’s image without real concern for true identity. “It’ll just create a more paranoid society with a fakey-fakey social life — much like what happened in Communist countries, where people had a fake social life that the Stasi could see, and then this underground life,” says Lanier.

Lanier is saying it will only become easier to have two lives: Our online life, one of veneer that creates shallowness and even fear, and our second life, the real one that we let few see. This sort of dichotomy in life and relationships will only create dishonesty and conflict. Yet freedom only comes when we are no longer fearful of being who we are all the time in every place with any person.

Waiting and Freedom

Our house went under contract last week, and we’ve been looking for a new house. It should be exciting, but it’s hard because we want the right house — for our children and family and ministry. So we wait, for the right one to be discovered by us or our agent. We look and wait. And in this position of waiting I’m usually filled with anxiety and fear.

But there’s another option. Freedom is near if we embrace our powerlessness — that we are not the sole manufacturer of good in our lives. Then we can live with open hands and free hearts.

(Additional reading: Romans 8:26-28)

Publisher Gives My Book Away

Tyndale House and Amazon decided to launch a huge book giveaway! My book is free for 1 week: ready, set, go download…

Make the jump to Amazon’s purchase page: 40 Days without Food: Divine Goodness to a Starving Soul

Be Passionate! (so the demand comes)

The preacher berated his people, “Be passionate! We need to be passionate. People are passionate about saving trees and other religions. We should be passionate about Jesus.” That was the end of his point.

Part of me felt overwhelmed — I have to be this but I’m not sure how to get there.

The demand was made, but there was never a reason. But the reason is more important than the demand.

Peachtree Road Race: Character Check

Toward the end of the 10k race there was a man on a megaphone yelling, “Character check! Character check!” He sounded like an angry junior high basketball coach.

I’ve heard the ideal of character tied to effort and sports my entire life. It’s always bothered me, and it bothered me in the 10k race, because it assumes those who tire out have no character, or at least not as much as those who finish strong. But perhaps the runner finishing strong is scared of failure because his entire being is prompt up by success. Perhaps that guy needs the character check.

At least that’s my thought from the back of the line.

Peachtree Road Race: The Last Shall Be First

A few weeks ago my wife and I ran the Peachtree Road Race, a 10k through Buckhead and Midtown Atlanta. Some 60,000 people joined us. It’s the largest 10k in the world. We were buried in the back, “Group W.” Let’s be clear about Group W — we’re not much to look at, really a bunch of folks more concerned with a good time than a fast time.

The groups upfront are concerned with speed and performance — seriously fit people. Group W tries not to trip over each other and tumble into the guy dressed in the full body (yes, including his face) blue leotard suit. It was a refreshing group of people who didn’t care. There was no standard to live up to — no judgement to fear, nothing to live up to or to be let down from. It was a joyful jog, or maybe even a walk at times for some of us, on a sunny summer morning. Perfection was far from our minds. We were last in line but I think we were first in freedom.

Tags: freedom

Q&A About the Book

A quick Q&A about the book – 40 Days without Food – over at Mockingbird.

Discovering the Loving Being

Baby Izzie is eight months old and is on the floor mustering all her strength to crawl. I’m on the couch and our huge lovable golden retriever, Thomas, is stretched out on the floor below me. Izzie inches a few feet toward me and discovers a massive blond paw. She looks at it and then holds it. Thomas rolls his eyes towards me, as if to ask, is this okay? He holds perfectly still, loving the attention. Izzie then crawls along Thomas’ front legs to his neck. She stops and looks him in the eyes, touching his soft ear. This is the first time she’s really paid attention to him.

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Now, Thomas has been around our home much longer than Izzie, and has been a constant presence since she was born, but somehow she just realized he was there.

Can you imagine that?

Can you imagine one day discovering there is a loving being who has always been there?

Tags: family

The Book on iPad & Nook (still on Kindle as well)

Okay, 40 Days without Food: Divine Goodness to a Starving Soul is now available for iPad and Nook. (Kindle readers you should already be reading–jump to Amazon for the purchase.)

iPad folks, you’ll need to download the Kindle app for iPad and purchase it through the app. The reason: my publisher is still working with Apple on a contract for all their titles–this could be a while.

Nook folks, jump to Barnes and Noble for the purchase or search on your device.

Cheers and Happy Reading!

The Book Releases: 40 Days without Food

Today my book–40 Days without Food: Divine Goodness to a Divine Soul–releases as an ebook from Tyndale House. (The book summary and endorsements are over on the book page.)

The release of this project has been a long time coming–many late nights followed by groggy mornings, groggy mornings followed by doubt-filled afternoons. Only to sit again at my computer the next night, hoping one day all the work will materialize into a day like today. There will be more to share with you as the book makes its way out into people’s hands, but for now, Happy Reading! (As of this morning, July 1st, the book isn’t up on B&N or iTunes yet. It will be soon – stay tuned. Kindle readers, you have a head start.)

As for reading the book you’ll need an e-reader like a Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone, or any computer. If you have a e-reader simply search my name and buy the book on the device or follow the links below. As well, you can download a PC Kindle app or the Mac Kindle app to purchase and read the book on your computer.

Links to purchase:
40 Days: purchase at Amazon.com