Category Archives: Technology

Technology, Blogging, and Unwavering Faith

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Welcome back to another episode of my little world on this corner of the internet. It’s been a hot minute! And we have celebrated another blog-a-versary!! Do you realize we’ve been doing this for eight! count them eight! long years? That’s that obnoxious age where kids start to smell funny but don’t have real jobs yet with responsibilities and life is just stupid potty jokes. Am I super famous? No. Have I ever gone viral? No. Do I have a tonne of followers? No. And l’m inclined to say that I never will. Why? More than likely because not too many people know about us (besides the friends I casually mention I wrote a blog — thanks friends ;)) and not too many people really wanna hear about our escapades on Itsnotta Farm — and they especially don’t wanna hear about my Christian world view. Well… they might if I debated or dabbled in political hot spots or great controversies or flaming topics. But I don’t.

Oh, we touch on the occasional hot spot or news flash. I celebrate a few events (yeah family day weekend!) We do a few specials and host a few contests, but mostly, I just self journal, and you all get to share in it. And that’s okay. I think about when I first started mittonmusings.com. I did it to learn about coding, websites, internet and a bit of tech. That didn’t work much… this week I had to ask how to update my phone. I blame it on too many photos of chickens and grand baby. Which means it’s not my fault, right?

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

….and this is where my entire finished post just vanished when I went to upload and publish it! Grrr. See? Technology sucks. Now, do I remember what I wrote about? It won’t be as good as when it first came out… but here it is. Again. Writers, this happens, right?

Where was I? I fear. I fear for my kids and my grand kids who will have to live in a world where reality is blurred. Where A.I. has made real what is not, and what is not is made real. Where gender and traditional roles and food and money is no longer real. And the fear comes because this will be “normal” for them. I fear for my older family members who know this is not normal, but have to deal with it anyway, because that’s the way society is going. And we are being swept along.

Do you remember the days where we balanced our cheque BOOKS with a real pen and paper? Now I am beginning to think that A.I. could handle that too (for $19.95 a month mind you). I think I should start stashing $20 bucks under my mattress for a rainy day. It may get me to where I need to be faster. Or maybe not. Cash is going out the window too… but gold bars are too heavy to store under my mattress.

Even the church will be blurred. There will be no separation of church and state. Our world views will become intolerant and silenced. No, I don’t dabble in the political, because I don’t like it. There’s too much, well, there’s too much politics. Yet, I have said it here many times, God’s got this.

If we believe our faith to be true; and I believe it is; then I believe that our never failing God has a plan, and He knows where all this will end up. He knows the direction we are headed, and He’ll be there at the end of it. Me? I am learning to be gracious in this fast paced world (aka my #wordoftheyear) which means I have to slow down every now and then and smile at someone, or take the time to listen. I don’t think A.I. has really got a hold of that yet. People still count for something.

And the God who is faithful from the beginning is still in charge. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Talking donkeys, talking robots. It’s funny, when I started this post, I was looking for a prompt or a verse to get me started… and then the words just flow out… and then the words had to change and adapt and get written again because I lost it all. Which frustrated me, but reminds me again that technology dictates a lot. Still, my words are my own, and although it may never be famous, I think mittonmusings.com gets written because God uses it to touch someone, somewhere, somehow. Even the second time ’round. So, if that’s you, please drop me line and let me know to encourage my soul….

(and ease my pain at technology)

How Do You Describe Yourself in 10 Words?

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Welcome back. I’m a bit behind in my post this week, but have had a little bit of writer’s block. Nothing has been hard pressed on my mind. Not that I haven’t been thinking of things, of course, but what to share… anyway, I did what any good writer does: Check a few writing prompts to get the juices flowing (thanks wordpress.com). Nothing really grabbed my eye there either except one. Here was the posing question: How would you describe yourself to someone who can’t see you?

Describe yourself in 10 words or less…

Okay, so the obvious. Physical features? Body type? Hair colour, eye colour, skin tone? All irrelevant, really. Does it matter? Does it cause instant judgement if you are a curvy girl? Dark skinned or almond eyed? Do you have an accent? I think about these things when I send out resumes. Or random emails. Do you wonder what I really look like physically when you read this public blog post? Does it matter to the words I print? Realistically, it does. Our views are tainted by the subliminal signals given off in our physical appearances. You’d be less likely to listen to my conservative, religious world views if I was a middle-aged, white American male with blue eyes and silver hair.

So, then we perhaps look at education, or religious beliefs or job description. Age, maybe? Life and world experience? In this world of social media and instant information, a quick Google search will give you the basics on almost anyone. The recent passing of Ozzy Ozbourne flooded tonnes of posts. Each with their own twist. Was he a loving husband and father, or a crazed, bat-head biting lunatic promoting the devils’s music? A talented rock musician who shaped a generation, or an unintelligible drug addict? I’m glad I am not famous. Too many people judge you when you are famous. It doesn’t matter what you do, either. Peace keeper or Terrorist. I suppose it depends on what side you are on.

Recently saw this post: Ozzy on Sesame Street: Do we judge?

I am purposefully not going to answer the prompt question outright. I am going to leave it there for your own musing and thought. What I will say, is that I would love to be in God’s unfathomable brain when He creates people. He knows our little blip of existence in the great line of time. He knows who we will meet and why. He paints those skin tones and eye colours on purpose. He knows how we will feel about this or that and what drives our passions and goals. He knows our deepest darkest secrets and still loves us. Yet, He gives us a free will to choose our own destiny. Like I said, I’d love to be there when He’s mixing it all up. By the looks of some of you, He has a sense of humour, too. Just teasing.

So. There. Four hundred and seventy six words later, and a blog post is on the page. It’s a little shorter than normal, but then, so am I. A little rounder too. Hopefully, the words sparked a little musing for you this week. How would you describe yourself? Why? How did you come up with those initial thoughts? How do you describe your spouse? Your kids? Do we judge? Me? I’m a uniquely designed daughter of the King of Kings who created a fuller version of a slightly crazy chicken loving girl who shares my thoughts out here on the internet once and awhile to encourage strangers to think a bit about what they might think of themselves and others. May you go forward and be prompted by your own thoughts on the subject!

Why We Need to Count: Exploring Numbers in Faith and Life

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According to the initial counts, 113.06 million people watched the Super Bowl game this week. That’s a lot of people. Our family was among them. Well… the television was on at least. It is estimated that 500 people are killed by hippos each year. It’s an estimated number because nobody wants to be picking fights with hippos. The number of chickens in the world has more than doubled since 1990. I’m not surprised. Chickens are great. Statistics. The numbers are everywhere… for every thing. A quick Google search can find you the numbers for just about anything you want to know about. I wonder who counts. We have a friend who’s job it is to present sport’s stats to the television hosts. Where do his numbers come from? Is there some kid out on the field who has a marker and a whiteboard and tally marks every play? Or who counts every malaria carrying mosquito out in the jungle? How on earth? It’s where my brain is going this week… who ? Why? Why do we need to know?

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Markets rise and fall. Corporations have departments full of bean counters just to tell them how their businesses are doing. It seems like everyone needs to know “the numbers” these days. And if the numbers don’t add up? We change, we brainstorm for better programs, better means to an end, better “stats”. We all like to see the numbers add up to our efforts. Unfortunately… churches do the same. And I am not sure it is all good. Now, I appreciate numbers. I understand the reasoning behind gathering statistics… why put effort into something if you get poor results? My scientific brain (and my lazy work ethic and pessimistic outlook) says why work harder than you need to for little or no result? Yet, I can’t help but wonder…. is it right?

Ethically, I suppose there is nothing morally wrong with working towards a program (at church or otherwise) that only generates positive results. Why else would there be marketers who study these things? Is it for dollar signs only? Do churches have a saved soul account? I just found out my favourite farm store is going out of business. A numbers game has forced them to declare bankruptcy. Online shopping strikes again. I’m showing my age here, but what about the little guy who works behind the counter? Yeah, I still go to the check out lady. People over points. I think each person is important to God. He loves us all : uniquely.

Still, I recently read an article that said God does, in fact, care about numbers. Why else would He give the Great commission? “Go into All the world”… we are to tell anyone and everyone. I get that. There are an elect few that will choose the narrow way… but that part is not our job. Our job is to tell our story. On the other hand, the Bible talks about how the shepherd leaves behind the 99 sheep in search for the one (single) sheep who has gone astray. I guess you could say numbers count… but God sees the numbers in individual people. Does that make sense?

Perhaps that doesn’t make sense. Perhaps, the numbers don’t add up, shall we say. Does God care about quality of life? Or quantity? I don’t have an answer. I now have more questions than when I started this post. And I am more confused by my own questions. Good grief! I suppose that’s how it goes sometimes in our spiritual journeys. Sometimes there are more questions than answers. And that’s okay. I’m sure there are statistics about that, too.

I guess the point is this: the Super Bowl is going to get played. People are going to watch. Others are not going to care about anything besides the half time show. Others will care about the coin toss or the colour of Gatorade. The players on their teams are simply going to do the best job they can at playing the game hard to win points. That’s all we can ask of ourselves. Do what you can. Share your story. Help others share their story. Support the community who is trying to serve. Play the game. Let the angel with the whiteboard and tally marks take care of the numbers. I’m pretty sure we can check the score boards later.