Attention all technology people...

I will be the first person to admit that I am a technology G-E-E-K!

I enjoy being around technology. I've worked at technology stores. I "snuck" into this year's Consumer Electronics Show (amazing experience!).

I am very excited about the soon-to-be-released Palm Pre smartphone.

I have a blog, Facebook, Twitter, and ways to update all three on my phone.

My MacBook goes with me wherever I go.

And, if I was being honest, I could find more technology to be consumed with.

So, this morning, as I was exchanging Tweets with fellow youth minister Chris Faddis, this simple phrase re-surfaced in my mind:

Hi-tech/low touch

Bob Schrimpf is a friend, a holy man of God, a devoted husband and father, and a youth worker who has influenced many ministries and lives across the country. He coined this phrase and has shared it at conferences and meetings that he is asked to speak at.

And he shares this phrase to point out that, while our technology makes us more "efficient", it does not make us more loving or compassionate. Our humanity is not "cyber" by nature, it is physical by nature.

Touch, not texts, are natural. The warmth of a hug, not a Facebook bumper sticker, expresses authentic, loving relationship. Sharing laughter with one friend, not hundreds of anonymous Twitter followers, will bring us joy and peace.

This is not a bashing of technology or the people that use it!!!!

Technology works. And it does have a place in our culture, in our family lives, in our ministries.

But, for as advanced as technology will continue to become, it will not replace the need for the physical-ness of our human relationships.

Why is this? There are lots of very smart people, inventing very smart things.

Those smart people thinking up those smart gadgets can't design or create one very important thing...

LOVE.

Incarnated, self-donated love is the ONLY thing that can fulfill our deepest desires and longings.

And that can only come from Our Creator, the One who made us in His image and likeness, who reaches down from Heaven to touch us - I mean, physically and really touch us - in the Sacraments, in the Church, in our relationships.

We may have a hard time perceiving God as God. It is an act of faith to recognize that he is touching us, speaking to us, watching us, listening to us at every moment of our day in a very real and physical way.

So, send out your text or post or tweet. But be sure to follow that up with love.

Make a new list

For as much as I visit Facebook on a daily basis, I just this morning realized that there is a "Make a new list" feature.  This allows you to organize your friends however you please.

I decided I would create different lists, in the hopes of adding a level of organization to my Facebook experience.

And as I was trying to figure out what to call each list, I for the first time actually went through the names of the people I've connected - or re-connected - with on Facebook.  I reminisced about different experiences I shared with some people or just wondered how others were doing.

But I struggled with naming the lists, because I felt like I should distinguish my high school and college classmates from young people that have been/are part of my youth group.  Or people I've met through the Catholic community here in San Diego from my brother and sister youth workers.  I even struggled with how to "categorize" people based on their age or current life experience/status.

However, this thought kept coming back to me as I discerned: regardless of how the person is related/connected to me or how old they are or what they've been through or which of my lists they end up on, they are still friends.  They bless me by their presence in my life in such a beautiful variety of ways.  They are constant reminders of God's goodness and mercy to me.  Maybe the very pure goodness of "social networking" comes not from the creators of Facebook, but from God's desire that we "should not be alone". 

So to my friends, thank you!

Oh dear...another communications thing-a-muh-jig...

After weeks of hearing about this Twitter thing, I decided to get one for myself and try it out.  I have to admit, for as technology-savvy as I think I am, I'm not totally sure I get what this does.  It seems like it's mobile status updating/mini-blogging.  So, we'll see what happens with it.  Gotta find people to connect with I suppose...

A smattering of schtuff...

• I'm currently listening to two very powerful albums: Revelation by Third Day and Hello Love by Chris Tomlin.  Both albums are not just wonderful musical experiences, but are also powerful expressions of how God works in the tangible to draw us close to Him.
  
• The iPhone is still a pretty amazing machine.  My friend told me today that the word on the street is that it will be available through multiple cellular carriers within a year.
  
• I love to eat.  Picking up breakfast at Pipes Cafe in Cardiff always brings a smile to my face.
  
• Is it just me, but are there ALOT of people (men AND women) who are fanatical about football?
  
• If you haven't done so already, you need to see the video on catholicvote.com.
  

Family Weekend

My Grandmother is visiting from the Philippines for a few weeks.  And this weekend, we had family day.  And Villa family day usually consists of two things: eating, shopping and more eating.  Oh, and picture taking.  It's definitely not a gathering without picture taking.

So, here's a picture of my beloved Grandmother and I (taken, of course, after our family day of shopping and in between eating).

As we were hanging out, it hit me...we (as in you and I) need to take time for family.  Whether it's flying 16 hours or driving for two, the travel is a worthwhile investment in love.

P.S.  Google Earth rocks!

P.S.S.  What a football weekend: St. Augustine High vs. Carlsbad on Friday, SDSU vs. Notre Dame on Saturday and Panthers vs. Chargers today.  Oh yes, ready or not, it's football season again!

Oh happy day

I am a huge fan of the Olympics.  These are some of my highlights so far:

• Gymnastics is ridiculous.  Like X Games ridiculous.  Some of the tricks the dudes do now are unreal.
  
• Michael Phelps is a beast.  Hopefully he'll be as good as a sober driver as he is in the pool.
  
• Team USA Men's Basketball looks good.
  
• Volleyball in all it's forms is my favorite sport.  Maybe because I used to play.  Maybe because all the US teams will contend for medals.
  

Here's a silly video from my mission trip to the DR:

But, this is the best news of the day for me: I now live exactly 8 minutes from an Apple Store!!!!!!

Why the dot dot dot?

For those of you who know me, I like technology.  Brings out my inner nerd.

And I'd like to think that goodness of technology - for all its imperfections and humanness (i.e. abuse and over-dependence by the very people who created and use it) - is that it gets people into relationship.

Perhaps we can think of this blog as a technology not just of communication, but a technology of, and for, relationship.

This blog is most certainly not about me.  I will share about everything from the people in my life to the joy of my ministry to my passion for sports to how a news story affects you and me to the out-of-the-ordinary thing that happened after I woke up today.

This blog is not only about my sharing my ever-evolving awareness of myself with you.  It is also, maybe more importantly, about you being drawn into a deeper awareness of and connectedness with your true, divinely-designed self.

This blog will be funny.  And sad.  And thought-provoking.  And informational.  And challenging.  And just straight-up random.

But, above all else, this blog will be about love.  Our intense need to receive it.  Our life-long mission to share it.

Because, love never fails.