This thing we call life

Thanks to the internet being the way it is, there are stats on things. But sometimes, the statistics are... well... embarrassing. Sad. Incredulous.

For example:

I have posted 4.4 thousand pins on pinterest in the past 3 years. And I haven't even been on it in the past 6 months hardly at all. I have a thousand followers on there.

I've starred 797 songs on Spotify in the past 3 years, which is 49 hours and 50 minutes.

I've only liked 166 things on Stumbleupon, which seems like a small number for the years I've been on it.

I've tweeted 4,049 times, with 1,356 favorites tweets of others that I've seen, in the past 5 years.  

There are 1,498 pictures tagged of me on facebook, and I've posted 13,349 pictures in 8 years.

I have 78 apps on my iPhone.

There is no way to track the time I've been on facebook, or how many videos I've watched on youtube, or how many silly things I've read on buzfeed, or how many hours of TV shows I've watched, or how many hours I've spent playing games on my phone or on my computer.

And I wonder why I still have unread books, or why I can't hear God sometimes.

I saw someone post a quote from the book, "Don't Waste Your Life," by John Piper on Facebook and it is now on my list of books to read. But isn't it ironic that I'm not sure when I'll actually read it because I've got other things going on?

“America is the first culture in jeopardy of amusing itself to death.” - John Piper

Last night at bible study I tried to be more intentional in my conversations with people, and my time is also almost up with my friend Joy who goes back to Bosnia for a year in just over a week. I tried not to check my phone, but looked at my notes a few times that were in my phone because I had a lot of things I needed to write down so I wouldn't forget. I went to Waffle House after bible study with 11 of us, and again, tried to really "be all there." There are people in my life who I love and are wonderful, and I know that in the constant change of life that people will continue to move on out of my life. Not because they don't want to be there, but because that's the way life is. There is no way to put a number on the amount of times I've hung out with friends, or the hours I've talked to them, but I can count the years. I've been at my bible study for 4 years now, and am flooded with love because of that!

“I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxeries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.” - John Piper

I want to walk so closely with Christ that when troubles and distractions come, I am merely glancing at them and walking on. When I am not walking close with Him, I am stopped in my tracks, brought to my knees, and brought to tears that don't end by those problems and pains in life. When my pain begins to overtake my joy, I know that I am not walking so closely with God. And I also get unfocused about sharing Him with others! I pray that everything I do will glorify Him and that when I fall and mess up, or get distracted by the world, that I am quick to turn back to Him. Always.