I’ve said it before; I don’t like amusement parks. It’s only now, at 33 years old, that I understand why.

A roller coaster is artificial excitement. It’s completely safe and you know it. It’s why we get on them.

We want excitement…as long as it’s safe.

My life is an adventure. I’ve been skateboarding for 23 years. I lived in Kaua’i and took chances in the middle of God’s creation. I climb mountains. I planted churches. I’m blazing trails literally where no one has gone before. I married an amazing woman and have two kids and we go on these adventures together.

My life is full of excitement…and it’s not safe.

I have scars, physical, emotional and mental. I have titanium parts in my body. I have memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything. I have friends and people in my life that are priceless.

Why would I pay 60 bucks to wait in line for hours for a few seconds of excitement?

Sounds boring to me.

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I handed the camera to my 8 year old daughter tonight and these are a few shots that gave me a look into what she sees. I haven’t tried to teach her any rules about composition or anything…I just want to see what she comes up with.

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I was 4 hours into a lego build with my son on Christmas morning and I was really wearing down. The kids were jumping on me at 6:15 in the morning amping and ready to tear into some gifts.

The reality was that I was doing all the building and he was doing the playing. I didn’t mind, it was Christmas and he was having a blast.

My son talks a lot. I’m sure every 6 year old boy talks a fair share, but for real, Steele can rattle on endlessly for hours I promise you. Sometimes it gets to me, especially when he gets in a mode where he is demanding my attention before each monologue with a series of; “Hey daddy”. You know the kind:

So back to Lego building. I’m trying desperately to pay attention to very intense directions on how to build an AT-ST Walker and just about every 8 seconds Steele pipes up; “Hey daddy…”. Literally.

Truth is, it didn’t bother me. We were having a blast. In the middle of it I thought of all the times that he was actually driving me nuts and I remembered why he was like that. He’s young and the world is so amazing and beautiful and around every corner is a brand new exciting experience.

Each one of these experiences is remarkable to my little dude…and it’s me that gets to hear the remark.

I never want to take that for granted.

Beautiful.

True_

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I have come to the realization that most American Christian’s view of Jesus is shaped through Paul’s eyes much more than their own.

What does that mean?

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At it’s core, #followfriday is a great show of solidarity in the Twitter-sphere and I think in the past it used to be a great resource for connecting with new tweeps.

Fast forward to last Friday and this is what most #ff tweets look like:

#ff @awesometweet @someguy @myhomie @billy @rerun @obama @moartweets @lazerdab @techblog @blahblahblah

This gives me no compelling reason to follow any of these people. I’m guilty of it just as much as the next person.

Last Friday I decided to make a change and actually make a change in my #followfriday behavior. I started by caring.

Who gets a Follow Friday tweet?

I scroll through my mentions column in Tweedeck and look for people who have engaged me this last week. That’s rule number one for me; you don’t get #ff love unless you are a two way communicator.

The formula

#ff –> @tweep [something they are] + [something they do]

Try to say two things in the #ff tweet; what they do and who they are. This gives your followers some real insight into them. They might act on the #ff because they have common ground vocationally or they like what you tweeted about their personality.

example:

“#ff –> @tweep music lover and a cooking guru”

It’s a little thing…but it might make a big difference.

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I have this conversation often:

Me: “Are you on Twitter?”

Them: “No; I’m already on Facebook”

Every time I have this conversation an angel gets it’s wings…clipped.

It does go the other way…although less often. There are Twitter users who are above using such blue collar social networks like Facebook.

Truth is, when done right, Facebook and Twitter are very different spaces and it is my opinion that if you want to rock at social media you need both.

I’ve shared this analogy with a lot of people and even mentioned it in a post or two.

Twitter is your coffee shop

At the coffee shop you connect with both people you know already and people you don’t know in a public space.

Twitter is quite the same. You will most likely initially connect with people you already know and then be introduced to people you don’t know and eventually make your own connections.

Twitter works best when you are open to meeting people you don’t know and connecting. This will be the biggest hurdle for people who have been on Facebook for a long time before getting on Twitter. Truth is, if you’re not willing to meet people and network, Twitter will not click and you’ll give up.

Quick tips for Facebook-ers moving to Twitter

• Do: Follow people you don’t know
• Don’t: Post pictures of your kids in the bath tub
• Do: Engage in conversations
• Don’t: Just be a broadcaster

Facebook is your living room

Your living room is for people you already know. Sometimes the people you know will bring people you ‘kinda’ know to your living room but for the most part it is people you know that come over to your house. Not everything that happens in your living room should be made public and most of the conversation that happens there is only interesting to people who know you.

Facebook is at it’s best when you share content and interact with people you know. People who use it as a networking space tend to come off as spammers and get ignored.

Quick tips for Tweeps moving to Facebook

• Do: Upload lots of photos of your kids
• Don’t: Add people you don’t know, that’s not the point of Facebook
• Do: Connect with your mom
• Don’t: Play Farmville

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Eric Schmidt of Google fame said that more content is now being created in 48 hours than from man’s beginning until 2003.

Wow.

That is a huge piece of information that should haunt you in some ways and motivate you in others.

Take a look at your church and the content that it creates.

Most likely your church creates most of it’s content for consumption on Sunday morning in a live group setting. Worship. Talking head. Maybe a video. Some churches also produce content in the form of books and curriculum. There’s a good chance your church has some web presence and maybe a blog. Churches are catching up on Twitter and Facebook.

(more…)

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I love the holidays.

Cold weather.

Christmas Lights.

Goodies.

My kids flippin love it…which stokes me to no end.

Christmas music? meh.

*needle scratching across record noise

I just don’t dig it. Not sure why.

That said…maybe it’s because we haven’t explored what rap can bring to the holiday table:

*warning, this video should never be viewed by anyone ever. You’ve been warned

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