Week two... the irony still exists.

Week two is gone. I don't have a lot of time, between moving and weddings and what not so this will be quick. Something I have discovered so far is the necessity to budget time for things that are important to you. Within the first week, I have found myself spending much more time looking through online news and playing a stupid number game on my phone. As was my assumption, it's not that social media is bad, it's just what I was filling my dead space with because I didn't have it budgeted for anything. Much like my time with God, when life isn't exactly what I expect, I make excuses for why I can't. This week has been "I'm working hard and just need to relax a bit" or "I"m stressed with moving and just need to chill." These inevitably turn into me doing nothing useful with my time. 

On a positive note, I have practiced my banjo more and read more. But mainly in the first few days. As soon as life took a slight curve, I took a slight break and then stopped. It can't just be an idea, it has to be a line in the sand. 

I was recently talking to my brother about this. He said that him and a co-worker are going on a smartphone fast. For maybe a few months or longer. The idea was to stop wasting time. There is also a lot of trouble you can get yourself into with smart devices. I think this is a great idea, don't get my wrong. However, the more I thought about it, the more I felt like you would simply find something else to waste time on. Unless we are intentional and decide that we are going to do x y or z, we will simply do nothing. I may be way off, or maybe its just my personality type. I think we need to evaluate it though. I am toying with the idea of journaling (not on here) my time each day for a week. Not to shame myself, but so that I become more conscience of my time. 

Recently I have been reading through Revelations. It can be a confusing and terrifying book to read. What I have gotten out of it, however, is that at some point this world will come to an end. I can't keep putting off kingdom work because I have my "own crap" to deal with. I need to be doing something to glorify God. I don't know how much time I have left and I don't want to be caught with my metaphorical spiritual pants down. I'm pretty sure social media, the news, 2048, or the other things I waste my time with are helping that. 

Quick disclaimer. I'm not saying you shouldn't watch movies or play video games or be on social media. I just challenge you to look at where a majority of your time is spent an evaluate what that is doing for you and for God. 

Ok, I gotta get ready for a wedding but I love you guys. I appreciate your time on this "quick" post. Questions comments concerns, post or email me mschroc2@gmail.com. Please send any prayer requests as well. And don't forget, it's never to late to start something new.

Mike 

Giving up social media for a month...

So it's been a while since I've blogged. I had some ideas to blog about, eve some good ones to blog about. They just didn't happen. I began to wonder why my life was "so busy" that I wasn't doing the things I really wanted to do. I started to examine my life. What was I doing with my spare time? 

I work a fairly physical job. It's in the construction field. It's not overly taxing most days, but still manual labor. When I get phone from work, many days I just want to sit and relax for a bit. The problem was I would sit, and just not get back up. There were so many things to distract me. There was social media, tv, the internet in general, all there ready to take the time from me that I could be using to cross off things on my goal list. Things like blog, run, learn to play the banjo, and so on. I'd get "caught up" on facebook or twitter, then it'd be to late to run, or I wasted the time I had to practice banjo by following some stupid hashtag through the twittersphere. 

I realized that one of my worst offending obsticles is social media. Many times throughout the day, on the drive to and from work, while sitting on the couch with Sarah, or just walking around, my first instinct was to open my phone and go through facebook, twitter, and/or instagram. Even when I'm supposed to be hanging out with people I was on my phone. 

So this is where this journy is starting. A month in the life of someone not on social media. How is this going to affect me? What will things look like after a month? Originally my intention was to ween myself off the desire to always be on my phone, but I think there may be more to it than that. Beyond just staying off social media, my goal is to be more intentional with my time. I hope that by the end of the month I feel in control of my time. Dave Ramsey, the finacial guru guy, talks about how if we don't budget and give every dollar a job to do we end up spending it on random things. The same is true with out time. If we don't budget time for doing x y or z, we usually end up not doing them and wasting those minutes on random other things. 

By my calculations, if I live to be 97 I have just over 36 1/2 million minutes left. Minus sleep and some unproductivity. The point being, I only have so much time. It's not an infinite time left on this earth. I need to make is count. I don't want to reach that the 36 millionth minute and realize that I worked hard but I have nothing to show for it. No one saw Christ in my life. I want to have an impact on people. Not so that I can be glorified, but so at the end of my life, people glorify God and celebrate him. It seems so ideological I know, but it's what's in my brain. 

So, for the next, at least month, I will be blogging about this. Hopefully once a week, but with my proven track record, we will see. And before you say anything, the irony that you probably found this on a social media network is not lost on me. I also don't think social media is terrible either. For me, I was just abusing it. I do think it can be a great tool. Maybe more on that later. 

If you have any questions, comments or anything please comment on the blog or email me at mschroc2@gmail.com. Also, please let me know if there is any way I can pray for you as well. One of my goals this month is to pray more and I would love to pray specifically for you. 

With love always,

Mike