technology

Unplugged

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Sharita

“Beep, beep, beep… We interrupt this program to bring you special weather announcement. The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the following counties…” 

I’m from Kansas. And this little message was heard in our household on a pretty regular basis from the months of March to October. It was old hat to us. We had our routine down.

We would watch the weather, waiting for the radar screen to see just how bad it might get. Once it was confirmed we sprung into action. My sister and brother would barrel out the door to go feed the animals and make sure they have shelter. Mom ran outside to put the cars in the shed, and I usually ended up bringing the laundry in off the line.

It was sweet organized chaos.

In a few short minutes, just as the black clouds rolled in and the huge raindrops started to fall, we would all gather breathlessly back in the house. We made it.

The lightning struck and a few seconds later the thunder rolled. Suddenly, Mom remembered… “GET STUFF UNPLUGGED!” We needed to unplug major appliances, specifically the microwave and the computer.

Maybe you think we were paranoid… but just ask my Mom how many fried desktop computer’s she has been through in recent years. Those puppies aren’t cheap. A simple yank of the cord could prevent our wonderful data storage machine from turning into a large, dusty paperweight.

Unplugged

Source: Las-initially via Flickr

Last week, I was like that computer. God issued the announcement and told me to unplug before I fried myself. So I did.

It. Was. Awesome.

Now, for some of you folks, “unplugged” might not mean anything more to you than a TV show on MTV. But for a girl who spends a majority of her life blogging about Jesus (on a computer), responding to comments (on a computer), working on building a platform via social media (on a computer), unplugging is a big deal.

Brandon and I went on vacation last week. We camped, old school style, tent and all, no air conditioning, in a state park in Florida. We’ve never been there, and Brandon tried to convince me that we needed to take my iPad for navigational assistance.

I refused. Our printer was out of ink, so I hand wrote the mapquest instructions on a notebook sheet of paper. I knew that if I took my iPad, those little red email/Facebook/Twitter notifications would be tempting me all week long.

So I left every piece of technology at home. I even shut my cell phone completely off. (It’s not a smart phone, but unplugging means unplugging.) I checked my phone once a day to make sure everyone was still alive and didn’t reply to a single phone call or text.

Guess what? The sun still rose. Every. Single. Day.

I know I’ve talked about it before, but so many of our every day little things can turn into idols without us even knowing. I personally have to be very, very careful not to let technology/blogging/computeresque things consume my heart.

What seemingly innocent everyday items try to steal your attention from God? Have you “unplugged” recently? How did God move through that? I would love to hear all about it– leave a comment below!

Anywho, the break was great and I’m glad to be back. I could write ten blog posts about the incredible work God did in our lives during our time of being unplugged, regarding our relationship/marriage, grateful hearts and time to rest… But for now, I need to finish this post… And unplug for the rest of the day.

Refreshed not Fried,
SGK

“I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet. That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic.” ~Psalm 27:4-5

Categories: technology | Tags: , , , , , | 15 Comments

The Simple Life

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Sharita

When I was in high school, I remember watching  a “reality” show called “The Simple Life.”

Yes. With the Hilton sisters. (You didn’t know this was going to be a confessional type of post today, did you? But don’t judge me. Blame my parents. They were the ones manning the remote) Still, I watched. I am not proud of it. But, much like reality TV today, it was kind of like a car accident… You felt bad for the people involved, but you just…can’t…look…away.

Here’s the basic premise from what I recall: The Hilton sisters (note: They would be what some call, uh, high maintenance perhaps?) would be plucked from their inherited throne and deposited in some small town. Let’s say rather podunkish. These girls would have to live the “Simple life” without the luxuries of being waited on hand and foot. They might even have to get muddy and do chores.

You get the picture.

It was a rather pathetic scene, and there were several times I wanted to jump through the screen and thump someone. But recently, my beloved husband and I decided to live the simple life.

No, we didn’t get orders to move to a 500 person town and work on the farm. (Both of us have been there, done that, so it wouldn’t be new anyways.) AND I would like to think I am NOTHING like Ms. Paris Hilton in the fact that I like getting dirt under my fingernails and the only time I utter the phrase “That’s hot” is when I gulp my steaming coffee too fast in the morning.

But we wanted to live a simpler life. Looking at our budgetary plan for 2012 (we are 23 days in and doing well) we wanted to cut back and simplify some things.

Not only has it saved us quite a chunk of cash, but we have been set free. It’s awesome.

We have simplified a few things in our life (baby steps, people, baby steps.) First we got rid of cable. Brandon is almost never home anyways and I barely even watch TV. On the rare occasions that we do get to sit down together, we figured Netflix or movies we had already purchased would do.

Cut the cable. Saved some cash. I tasted freedom.

THEN, we downgraded our phone plans. Brandon went back to a “flip phone” in December, saying goodbye to the Blackberry. I followed suit this month when I THOUGHT I was available for an “upgrade” even though I was downgrading. (It’s a long story.)

Convincing the phone store that my plan was legit was a quite the task. I told them I had an iPad gifted to me a month ago, so I didn’t need phone email AND iPad email to-go. While they initially acted like I was trying to give up my first born child or part with a limb, I finally convinced them this was what I wanted to do. As I was staring at the “basic” phones trying to decide, I saw a “free” one (after rebate of course.) Beside it was a $50 slider phone. What to do, what to do…

Suddenly, a wave of freedom rushed over me and I literally felt God saying “Live simply.”

Decision made.  I said so-long to my Android and picked out the simple, non-slider “free” phone that makes calls and texts. That is it. No email. No internet.

I love it. FREEDOM!

God has continued to affirm our baby steps of living simply. It has been amazing for our budget, but even more so in our relationship with Him. I am less distracted. I am more focused. I am spending more time frolicking outside taking in his non-technological gifts. I am more available for Him.

Ultimately, living simply makes me thankful.

In what ways can you simplify your life this year? It doesn’t have to be drastic, but God will recognize and encourage any method you use to spend more time with Him, keeping your eyes focused upward.

You don’t have to move to a tiny midwestern town to experience this kind of freedom. Start right where you are and live the simple life.

Living simply-er and loving it,

SGK

“A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.” Proverbs 13:7 MSG

Categories: budget, glory, money, simple, technology, TV | 2 Comments

Handle with Prayer

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Sharita

Life can be distracting.

Life can be overwhelming.
Life can be stressful.
Life can be uncertain.

Any of these statements apply to you today? Then read on, dear friend. HOW do we function daily, putting first things first, without going off the deep end?

Some might say they flip the “Don’t Care” switch. (It works, but probably not the healthiest option.)  Others might consume copious amounts of chocolate. (Again… great theory, might not be super healthy.)  Still others retreat into a shell, shutting out the world.

But for me, I pray. A LOT. No, I don’t get to sit around all day in God’s presence listening, talking, meditating on His word (as much as I would like to.) I still need to fulfill my role as an army wife, minister, friend, daughter, sister, FRG leader, blogger, exerciser, and general life cheerleader. But spending time in prayer helps me to focus on Christ in all things that I do.

I spend one hour per day of what I like to call my “Jesus time” first thing in the morning. Then I continue to talk to Him (and attempt to listen) throughout the day. As I am working out, driving, showering, preparing to sleep… He is always around, inviting me to be in touch with Him. He is my everything. He gets me through the day. He is my eternal, my immortal, my ultimate chocolate-sleep-diet-dr-pepper-happy-place pick me up.

Just last week, someone asked me if praying actually “worked.”

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I passionately replied “YES.”

Prayer serves a lot of different purposes in life, several of which were covered in the paragraphs above. For example: ever since I got my shiny new iPad, I have been logging my prayers on a nifty $1.99 app. (I had a gift card, so the app was essentially free.)

Best. Investment. Ever.

The app is called “Prayer List” and the design is simple but genius. It allows me to categorize my prayers (aka friends, healing, ministry, our life/family, the lost etc.) The app keeps me accountable to legitimately PRAY for specific people, places or things every single day. And the best part?

It archives my answered prayers.

I have been using this app for 16 days. So far, I have entered 87 prayers… and already, in 15 days, TWENTY of them have been answered.

Holy. Lord. (Literally.)

Honestly, I had no idea how many prayers had been answered until Sunday… I was kind of in a “Jesus Funk” while preparing for church. So at the end of my quiet time, I quickly clicked over to the “answered” tab on my prayer app, expecting 3 or 4 to be in that category. I about fell out of my chair when the entire screen was filled up and I had to scroll to see them all.

Talk about giving your faith a boost.

I started looking at the answered prayers and got a teeny tiny glimpse of God’s ability to work actively in my life. It is PROOF of what he has been doing in the last 16 days. In fact, I realized He actually used ONE event to literally answer three separate prayers that at first glance were seemingly unrelated.

So today, let’s take time to rejoice in His faithfulness. We can take heart that He listens, replies to our petitions/prayers, and is both ACTIVE and ALIVE in our lives.

Consider logging your prayers. Watch how he is working in YOUR life. His answers are abundant and always perfect.  Approach life gently by first coming into The Father’s presence. Life can be simple and wonderful if we handle it with prayer.

In Gratitude,

SGK

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” –Ephesians 6:18

 

Categories: faith, hope, iPad, prayer, technology | Leave a comment

Technically Speaking, It’s a Gift

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Sharita

Social media is a HUGE deal right now. Ok, that was kind of an obvious statement– but it  needed to be made for the purpose of this post. To prove my point, I would bet that most of you out there in cyber-land probably found out about this blog via Facebook or Twitter. (Thanks, internet.)

On that note, I can’t really complain about social media. But if you listen to the way some folks talk, connecting digitally is more of a curse than it is a blessing. Honestly, I believe it all depends on how you use it… when the social media craze first began several years ago, a lot of people argued against it saying that it disconnects us from each other, making face to face interaction rare. I will admit that it is a great source of procrastination and does have it’s negatives. But I also feel that God gave us social media as a gift in disguise. And as with most of His gifts, it all depends on how you use it.


I have found out that while some people choose to air their dirty laundry or share WAAAAYYYY too much info on Facebook or Twitter, it can also be a great way to reach out to other via witnessing, ministering and discipling. Heck, that’s the basic purpose of this blog. There are people who read blogs, follow others on Twitter and be “Friends” on Facebook that may never meet face-to-face. But if social media allows just a single seed to be planted in someone’s mind about the love Christ has for them, then I think it is so worth it. Thank God for the gift of technology.

On the wall in my kitchen, I have two huge posters. I ran across them on the internet about a year ago and finally purchased them for display a couple of months ago. They are “Faithbook” posters that have “profiles” for God and Jesus. Not only does it make me laugh, but it is a great way to sneak attack witness to folks that might come over and peer at our wall. This adaptation of social media uses humor based on biblical principles to provide a “modern” twist for the tech-savvy folks of the 21st century.

I make it a personal policy not to post dramatic or negative stuff on Facebook or Twitter… Yes, yucky things happen in my life, I feel frustrated about a variety of things each day (sometimes every 20 seconds) but instead of posting something diva-drama-driven, I try to post something Christ-driven. I can ask for prayers, hope for God to inspire me to share something positive, or (here’s the shocker) remain quiet until the Enemy no longer desires ownership of my Facebook status.

Personally, I am thankful for the technical gift  that is technology and social media. I firmly believe all things in moderation, so there is no need to be addicted to FB… But if God presents a chance for me to share the gospel on Facebook, Twitter or a Blog post, I am going to make it happen to the best of my ability. Has God called you to share something Christ-driven? Post it… reach out… embrace technology and social media in a positive way… Because “technically” speaking, it’s a gift!

Likes, Comments and Re-Tweet galore,

SGK

“Souls are saved by truthful witness and betrayed by the spread of lies.” –Proverbs 14:25

Categories: disciple, Facebook, gifts, social media, technology, Twitter, witness | 1 Comment

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