Once upon a time in a different, but much the same, Christian era (the 1970’s); the keyword was Journal. I don’t know how the trend got started but it seemed that pastors and youth ministers were on fire with the idea that Christians should keep a journal. This was to be a regular part of our “quiet time”. There were three things that you could count on finding at your local christian bookstore: 1. A book by Charles Swindoll, 2. A book by James Dobson and 3. Some sort of Journal. I never understood why someone would pay $19.95 for a book with blank pages in it.

Everyone was encouraged to keep a journal beside their Bible and write down an Observation, Interpretation and Application of the passage they read that day. Along with this they were to list their prayer requests and make special notes of previous prayers that had been answered.

A couple of years into the fad we began hearing sermons about Christians spending more time keeping a journal than they did reading the Bible or spending quality time with the Lord. It seemed that the Journal became more of a distraction than a tool.

It’s not surprising that we are now hearing the same complaints about Facebook and Social Networking. We’re spending too much time writing pithy sentences which are destroying our ability to think and communicate intelligently. Social Networking has become an addiction which is robbing us of spending quality time with the Lord. I personally think it’s silly to make such a big deal about something this trivial.

Dear Facebook,
Today I read from the book of Jonah. I observed that there are some really big fish in the sea. My interpretation of the story, or what it means to me personally is, we should never go deep sea fishing. Application: I’m going to commit myself to fishing in ponds and avoid getting in a boat. Dear Lord, please let me catch a fish with enough gold in it’s stomach to pay my taxes.