If I have not love....

(Oh and before I forget, no I'm not avoiding talking about Albania... it's just this is what is pressing on my heart at the moment, and I write about what I'm dealing with... so this is what we get this time out) We live in a culture that loves to talk. We have talk shows, gossip magazines, call-in radio shows, analysts for every political event, sporting event, social event, everything. But what we love more than talking even, is talking with no restrictions, with no ramifications for our sound bites, at least with no REAL ramifications. It doesn't matter if we are right or wrong, if we can back it up or not, just so long as we say it. Look at the number of blogs on the web. The number of videos on youtube that are responses to someone else's response to something. How pretty much ALL of the major web reporting sites (be it sports, politics, whatever) have comment sections at the bottom. It's all about talking. But what society really loves is to take those opportunities to "speak" and just say turn it into a shouting match. I LOVE to read espn.com, and sometimes I will venture into the comments section, but so often the comments have nothing to do with the article. It's turned into a "who can insult who more" mud pit.

Most of the time this comment phenomenon, while it annoys me, doesn't really bother me. There are a whole lot of things in this fallen world that annoy me, but you have to choose your battles and this wasn't one I felt I needed to choose. But then this week two things happened that made me think about it. One, Jennifer and I went and saw Fireproof. If you don't know what Fireproof is, it is a movie starring Kirk Cameron (yeah, Mike Seaver, for those of us old enough to remember that). It was produced by a Chrisitan movie company and is about a fireman (cameron) who is on the verge of losing his marriage, his decision to try something to humor his father and the subsequent journey it takes him on. I really liked the movie, and if you know me I tend to be a cynic with "Christian" movies. They tend to strike me as too cheesy and patronizing, but this one was really well done. And yes, some might say the acting in the supporting cast left something to be desired... but then you find out the cast was made up of church members and not professional actors and they get a pass on any minor stiffness. There was a song in the movie that Jennifer really liked and so I started doing some net searching for the name , in the process came across a number of sites that had, you guessed it, comment sections. And the mud-slinging was in full force. Sadly, it was from people who claimed to be believers as well as those who did not. It really saddened my soul... for a couple of days actually. The weird thing is I couldn't really put my finger on why is dismayed me SO MUCH. Sure it upset me and made me sad for those who were so angry in their posts, but why did it cut to my core?

I've now gone over and over this in my head and spirit for a few days and I think I have an answer. It actually came from a question I posed to myself. As I thought about the comments and how much it hurt my heart to read the posts, I asked myself "then why didn't you post something?" And after really considering it for a moment, this is what I came up with. "Because I would just be another crashing cymbal in this symphony of noise. They don't know me, why should they listen to anything I say." And there it was. "They don't know me." We are a society that is incredibly connected yet disconnected. I know people who literally interact with hundreds of people via the web, but have physical contact with very few people. They have lists and lists of people who know a little about them, but hardly anyone who knows the real them. And that's what I thought of as I thought about those comments. Not what they said or how they said it, but if there was anyone in their lives who could speak God's love and truth into them. Someone who has taken the time to show love, to gain trust and share truth with compassion and caring. We are a society who wants our truths broken down into sound bites that we can pick up at our local drive up window as we speed through our lives. But that doesn't last. People need more. And that is what made my soul so sad, because the community of believers in this nation have dropped the ball, myself included. I blog. I love to blog. But I would trade all my websites in a heartbeat if it meant I had to choose between that and spending time investing in the lives of those around me.

So where does this leave me? It simply reminds me that if I am talking and talking and talking, but not taking the time to invest in those I talk to, then I am simply the resounding gong to which Paul referred. It's the talking without words that makes all those words matter.

On a TOTAL side note, last night I had the opportunity to be the color commentator for a local radio broadcast of Arthur's Homecoming football game. Now before you get too impressed, please know that this is a smaller radio station and it does not offer streaming radio via the internet, so we were probably heard by about tens of people at best. Either way I got to be the color man with a good friend of mine (Doug Davis) offering up the play by play. And yes, if you do happen to know both Davis and I you realize that the people who allowed us to do this had NO idea what happens when the two of us get together. By the grace of God we didn't get sidetracked and start rambling incoherently. It was a good game and we actually didn't do too bad (or at least no one has said we did poorly) and I LOVED IT!!! Big surprise, I enjoyed being given the opportunity to talk about football for 3 hours. I'm actually hoping they liked us and ask us to do it again. I do love to talk. God bless.

-The man without a mute button