FusionLife

I heard about this new site that takes the words off your blog and makes a mash up of the words you use the most. Maybe a helpful tool to see what you’re really spending all your time blogging about. Check it out Wordle.

Here’s mine.

HT Chris

How many times do we blow through time with a friend, spouse, or your children? I’ve begun to realize that I’ve blown through these times without internalizing what is being said or happening. As I sit and listen to preaching ministers, comics and story tellers they use a lot life experiences (both good and bad) to connect with the audience and connect the point of their message.

How about you do you take time to internalize what’s going on around you or just blow through life like it doesn’t matter? Take sometime after reading this post and leave a short comment of some story that happened in your life.

I’ll go first.

I’ve been rereading “They Smell Like Sheep” by Lynn Anderson and one of the chapters is about mentoring. The author talks about how one of the ways mentoring happens is through being the example. As I finished up the chapter and walked out into the living room my daughter was coming out of the bath in her towel and took it of and started to run through the house. Then my son came out in his towel dropped it and started to follow her running around. We all long for some example to follow. The best way we can mentor and build up Christians and leaders is by taking them with us, inviting them over for dinner, or to just watch the game. Let them experience life with you and without even noticing it mentoring and life change with occur.

I have been dreaming for a long while that this blog would be more of a community than a place to drop my thoughts and rants. I’ve been wondering what it would take to make this a place where more input and commenting is happening and where you feel that your thoughts are valuable.

So stealing a line from Carlos Whittiker at his blog Ragamuffin Soul. Who are you people that read my blog both on the page and through RSS readers. Stop by and drop me a comment telling me who you are, where you are and something about you or give me some ideas for how to draw more comments out of you. I’ll start.

Hi my name is Ben Boles I live in DeLand, FL (for now) I’ve been married for almost 8 years and have two great kids

So Chris tagged me on this thing.

The rules are:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
   
2. Post the rules on your blog.
   
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
   
4. Tag six random people at the end of your blog entry.
   
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs.
   
   

• I got my first Apple product 6 years ago (G3 iBook).
  
• I didn’t want a junior when my son was born so I we decided that we would both be tribes of Israel (Do you know which tribe?).
  
• I at one point I wanted to be a Contemporary Christian artist (think 4 Him meets Boyz to Men), way back in the day.
  
• Coffee is my friend and constant companion, especially coffee from Volcano’s Coffee Bar.
  
• I hated to read as a kid but now can’t put books down.
  
• I hate meme’s.
  

God is not short on the adventures and experiences that He has thrown in our path over the last few years and now we start on another.

Last week I resigned from my position as youth minister at the Christian Church at DeLeon Springs. We loved working with the people at the church and trying to help them figure out where God is leading them as His body in this community. But while working through that He revealed to us that where they are headed and where He is leading us are not the same path. We trust that God is in control and live our lives accordingly and when opens and closes doors we follow Him and that’s what we are doing.

Please pray for us as we seek where Gos is calling us to serve Him and that God will send this body of believers the person that will help them accomplish their goal.

Lots of stuff going on still not making much time for blogging and beginning to remember some of the reasons I started, mainly and outlet for stuff going on up stairs and now that I’m not its gotten pretty crowded and no room for much more. Anyways, there are some pretty cool stuff going on here and on the web that I thought I’d share.

-I’m taking a group of 3 high school seniors to visit Florida Christian College for Senior Salute, their come experience college event. Pretty excited, 2 of them are most likely going next fall and the other is on the fence.

-The Florida Christian Youth Convention is 60 days away, we have finally secured a location which proved to be pretty difficult without laying out obscene amounts of money. We have a great line up of speakers, worship and workshops for high school and middle school students.

-Almost done with Irresistible Revolution, it is a deep book piled on top of not making myself read daily. It has really challenged a lot of my positions on pacifism (not a give peace a chance philosophy but from the prospective of the stance of the early church), the poor and what it means to really minister to those who need it, how much of the New Testament we don’t give any attention to as modern American Christians (because it makes us uncomfortable, requires intentional work with the poor and to give more: whether time or money)

-New Dove (the soap company) initiative- Campaign for Real Beauty and their new video Onslaught, you can watch it on their front page. Having a 4 year old daughter (who is mentally about 30) I know I need to start now to build her self-esteem and understanding of real beauty. Go watch the video.

-Los Whittaker a worship guy on staff at Buckhead church was on LA Ink last night. Got a great tattoo of Paul on the road to Damascus. He shared in story about faith and ministry and they did an awesome tat.

Tags: Florida Christian College, Dove, Onslaught, Campaign for Real Beauty, LA Ink