Story behind the Cover Photo

Facebook has become such a part of our ever day lives.  Most of us check our facebook more often than we check our email.  This is because Facebook is our representation of ourselves to others.  It may not be for prideful or selfish reasons - it just happens to be designed to be our face in the online community.  Our timeline shows people what we have been doing, our posts let people know how we feel, and other people's comments are a reflection of our relationships in the "real world".  Still, there is something deeper going on also: what does your profile picture and cover photo say about you?

See, these are two things that we think about often.  Even those who change it quite frequently still put thought into "not putting thought" into it.  I remember back in the day when you would try to hide your identity from the online world.  You would not post any picture of yourself, you would have a screenname, you would have an email address that had nothing to do with your identity in the "real world".  Yet, isn't the online community part of the real world?  Even more so than many aspects of your life?  See, the online realm is not a replacement for the "real world", it is another aspect of the real world.  But I digress.  Let's go back to what I was saying: what does your cover photo say about you?

Unlike your profile picture, your cover photo on facebook has nothing to do with identifying you.  It is not your profile picture.  Your cover photo is the thing that gives your facebook page a certain tone.  You let the world know about an aspect of who you are by your cover photo.  Will it be a Bible verse? Will it be about your faith in God?  Will it be a random shot of nature?  Sometimes it is a picture of you and your friends, as an extension profile picture. 

For me, I always try to make my cover photo specifically talk about one aspect of who I am.  It usually is an older photo to remind me where I've been.  Why?  Because you can't know where you are going if you don't know where you came from.  Right now, my cover photo is a picture I took 7 years ago.  It is from the Breakfast Club Experiment that we did in college in my dorm.  We would invite people who had nothing to do with each other and have them over for dinner.  It's college dorm life: everyone wants food.  So people would always come over.  My roommates got in on it too, helping me come up with invite lists.

I think one reason I put up this particular cover photo was to remind me that I was reaching out to others way back when it wasn't a ministry.  It's who I am.  Reaching out to others, encouraging them, that's who I am.  That's what makes Mark me.  I don't need to be assigned to do this, I don't need to be paid to do this - should just do it.  Because I love doing it.  It shouldn't be based on this notion of "I want certain people to be there".  It is just fun bringing people together who don't normally hang out and watching them get closer together.

There is such joy to that. Seeing Christians mix when they have nothing in common.  And yet the early church is described as a people who had EVERYTHING in common.  They were like minded.  They loved the same things.  They loved God, they loved each other.  Yet they did not have anything in common. Some were slaves, some were masters, some were Greek, some were Jew.  The early church was a bowl of random ingredients thrown together.  But God made it work. 

In the same way I want to see that happen today too - especially with my friends.  I don't want them to just be my friends, I want them to be friends with each other.  I don't want to be the only connector between all of them.  There is a joy in seeing people I care about caring about each other.  Sometimes there are those times that you feel that should be the connector, this feeling of like "why am I not invited anymore to be with you guys?". But that is rather selfish, isn't it?  For there is a reason why they can't hang out with you also.  And you have to realize that God has a purpose to this too.  That this is their time to grow closer together, this is their time to know each other more.  You already know them.  You already are friends with them.  In a weird way, the less you hang out with a close friend is a sign that you are indeed close to each other because you don't need to "maintain" it so much.  And then you won't be clingy.

Friendships aren't meant to be over-analyzed.  Friendships are meant to be enjoyed.  Every moment there, even if you don't get to have deep conversations wtih them, is fine.  Because every moment is a memory.  And don't you want to have great memories with people?  It's not always about the deep conversations.  It is about the times you laugh, the times you cry, the times you just SIT with each other. 

I am Mark.  And I am blessed by so many friends.  Gotta keep reminding yourself of that.

Getting back into the habit of writing

Hi, blog.
Hi, Mark.
Long time, no write.
Yeah, you really have a way of abandoning me just when you come by and start hanging out again.
I'm sorry.
Whatever, Mark.  Just try to commit this time, okay?  Sometimes, friendships can be like that too.
What do you mean?
What I mean is this: sometimes we feel bad that we don't have time for our friends.  In response to this, we call them up or text them and offer to hang out.  After hanging out for a bit, we feel better about ourselves and move on and stop communicating with them again.  Yet, we complain so much when this happens to us.  We say, "How come you never have time for me?  Why do you always have time for other people?"  Yet, do you not do the same thing?  Do we not do the same thing?

Sometimes, I think that the best way to keep yourself from depression is to do what Edmund Chan said we should do - have gratitude towards God for everything that goes on in our life.  God provides so much for us, and yet I still complain so often. Why do I keep being filled with discontentment?  Shouldn't I be content?  God gives all good things to those who love Him, and I know that everything I do can only be done because of God and through His strength.  I know that the things I don't have are not lacking, but rather are not what I need right now.  I know that God has a purpose and a timing.  It's just hard waiting sometimes. It is just difficult when you feel that you need to be happy today, right now.  Why can't things be like before?

But I know that God is loving, that God is good.  Therefore there is a reason why things are going the way they are right now.  Sometimes I think the reason God is allowing me to go through this is because He wants me to really grow and learn this truth: that He knows best...and I don't. 

God is wise and our wisdom is merely foolishness to Him.  So why is it so hard to trust Him?  If we can trust God with our eternal salvation and say Jesus, I give my life to you, then why is it so hard to trust Him for these "smaller" things?  I remember something Dr. Charles Stanley said before.  He said that if God keeps telling you the same thing over and over again, it may be because you have yet to obey Him in that area that He keeps telling you about.