Monday, August 31, 2009

Weak WiFi


The light on my laptop started to flicker in a quickly attempted reboot. A few moments ago, I was sitting in a Pennsylvania airport trying to get an email off before this early morning flight took off. I am an hour an a half into the flight and I am just starting to breathe calmly again.

Having cleared TSA Security, I opened my laptop and tried to log in. It was taking unusually long. I have gotten to wear I can boot up, connect, write, send and boot down in a matter of minutes if really pressed. But it all hinges on the wireless connection. Or should I say, lack of wireless connection.

Murphy’s Law was in affect. Meaning what could go wrong, was going wrong. The wifi signal was so weak that a simple log in page was taking forever. As I sat in complete frustration, I could hear the words of my “I just got a computer” dad barking at me that technology has gone to far too fast. At this moment he was write.

Back in Pittsburg, I opted to grab my blackberry and use it to try to smuggle out a cryptic text describing in “teen text language” the complex one page email. As I entered the final C U SOON 4SURE, my blackberry’s battery died. It didn’t really matter; I hardly had any signal anyway.

It has donned on me that everything in my immediate proximity relies on connectivity. Now, 30,000 feet above the ground, I am totally disconnected. Those that I need to get this email out to can’t get to me and I can’t get to them. Connectivity matters.

Weak WIFI was my demise. A simple reconnect could have resent the signal. You follow me. Not on a technological thought, but on a spiritual thought.

Now isolated, I am frustrated. Now that I am disconnected, those that can help me can’t connect with me. I needed to connect. Have you ever been in a place where you just want to be left alone? Sometimes circumstances disconnect us. Sometimes, “we” disconnect us.

From your family? Your spouse? Your spiritual growth? In a worst case scenario, we amputate ourselves from the pursuit of becoming the best version of you.

Have you ever felt isolated?

Think about the power of disconnect. Solitary Confinement is the greatest punishment we pose on the imprisoned. Yet, people live everyday in a self imposed isolation where feelings lies, wounds deepen, and darkness invades.

Sometimes I need to climb out of the hole.

Today, get into a regular connectivity receiving the strongest vibe from Christ. Jesus loves the disconnected yet refuses to leave them in isolation.

Much hope,
Jason Harper
www.twitter.com/bechange

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Watching Ants



I was in the first grade, but it still stings. I always was a talker and my first grade teacher asked me to stand outside because I was talking while she was talking. It was early in the day and I had already ticked her off.

Obediently, I stood outside and purposed to stand away from the window, because as a little obnoxious kid, I was embarrassed that I had been publicly banished from the class room. I didn’t want people to see me.

At first it was fun. I listened to the birds chirp. I watched ants crawl on the ground. My education had been diminished to watching ants. But soon, minutes became hours. I thought the punishment was going a bit long. Finally, it occurred to my six year old mind, I had been forgotten. After an eternity, I cracked open the door and with a squeamish look of desperation, my eyes appealed to the warden to let me out of solitary confinement.

When my teacher saw my face, her puzzlement marked me. She realized I had been outside for more than two hours. She was horrified. I was confused. How had she forgotten me? Worse, why had not the class said, "Can Jason come back in?"

Take a casual look around our culture. You will see hundreds of faces forgotten and now isolated into the solitary confinement of their mind.

Jesus loves those in our society that have been forgotten. I was recently in Africa and I remember walking the streets and seeing so many children that had been forgotten by everyone.

Kids thrown away. People forgotten. The broken ignored…

Abandoned.

Forgotten.

So many are marginalized, forsaken, and forgotten. I have made the mistake of viewing the world the way I view my street. Our view of the world in similar to how we see our neighborhood. I don't see AIDS inflicted Africa starving to death on my street, so the old cliche plays out true, "out of sight out of mind." It's not acceptable, but it is accurate.

It is one thing to be forgotten, it is an even greater atrocity to be ignored. For me, the only thing that is worse than being forgotten is to be ignored. It is worse than being forgotten. To be ignored implies choice. "Though I see the condition of humanity, I choose to ignore."

Forgotten.

I am stirred because of Jesus' compassion for the forgotten. It is why we wrote about it in Jesus Loves You This I Know. Today, look around. Remember the forgotten. Look for those whose have no advocate and listen to how their silence screams for hope. Then act. In that moment, you are Jesus' love extended.

Hit the home page at www.jesuslovesyou.net and grab a downloadable chapter. Read it. Pass it on. The best tool we have to communicate Hope is your voice. Your influence matters to us.

Much Hope,

Jason Harper
www.bechange.cc