NIGHT OF NETS: Is This the World You Want?

Yesterday in chapel we showed a new film piece from our recent Zambia trip where some of our incredible Zambian leaders and caregivers discuss the impact of malaria in their lives and communities...here's the link to watch an incredibly moving and educational piece:

https://vimeo.com/107432341

After we showed this video I read something I recently wrote after watching it to our student body...the words remind me and I hope inspire you to continue to pursue a world without malaria...those words are here below...

I don’t know about you, but when I run across a huge problem, something I know just isn't right, when the world does not look like I want it to look and how I believe God intends it to be, I want to come up with a viable and effective and long term solution.

 And you've heard today from our friends in Zambia the scope of this 1 problem, this disease called malaria. And you've heard the incredible power of the solution called an insecticide treated bed net.

 And God in His sovereignty, in His surprising plan, has invited our school to help make others aware of what happens every night when Mosquitos buzz into homes in Africa. And he's called us to be a leader in rewriting that story and giving life in all its fullness without malaria to this next generation in places like Ndola, Zambia. 

 GO week is about learning. And GO week has to be about doing as followers of the God who desperately loves every nation and person in our world.

 Wednesday night is our final night of nets event for this fall. The men's soccer team started this event 5 years ago. And our passion as a team and as a campus still continues to grow as God enlarges both our hearts and our visions for global impact. They are actually hoping to raise the funds thru one match to provide every home, 1500 at risk families, who still need a bed net served by our partner Jubilee Ministries in a place where malaria season is just around the corner…

 I love the fact that one of our defining traditions now, one of our can't miss events at CU, is something where we do something focused on the other, the least of these as we watch a game on a beautiful fall night featuring something on a grass field our African friends love dearly, and we cheer together for this school, this community of faith we all are part of...

 I hope...I actually do pray you'll be there Wednesday night at 7pm on our soccer field. Wear your NON shirt (buy one and save a life like almost 1000 others already have…it’s the thing this year). I need a great all campus shot at halftime. Don't buy Starbucks for the next 2 days, skip a movie this coming weekend, or just give with gratitude $6 as you head into the stands because the reality is that those green nets you saw in African huts on a video today are the ones that $6 of our money collected in an orange bucket at our CU athletic events purchased for their families. They are the ones that my 11 year old sponsored child Darwin who wants to show me his own book he's published someday now sleeps under because of some of you who went to a night of nets match...

 Is this the world you want? It’s a question we all have to daily ask and face as followers of the one who proclaimed He had come to bring the Kingdom…If not, let's make it different Wednesday night...

Less is More: Setting Boundaries for Ourselves with Digital Media--FULLER YOUTH INSTITUTE

Check out this list...worth a read from Fuller Youth Institute on an issue so deeply affecting students and adults both as we live in our culture...

12 PRACTICES IN SETTING DIGITAL DEVICE BOUNDARIES:

1. Set designated places where you keep, and put away, various devices. Setting physical boundaries helps reinforce digital ones.

 

2. Turn off all your devices before you go to bed and, if you’re a youth leader, occasionally post something that indicates that you are doing so. “Had a great time hanging out with you all today! Shutting everything down for the night. Sweet dreams, Internet. See you and your cats tomorrow."

 

3. Bring a camera rather than a smartphone to take photos during events. Post the photos afterwards rather than during.

4. Here’s a great one from Kara Powell: have everyone set their phones in the middle of the table at the start of a meal. The first person to reach for their phone has to pay for everyone else. (You may need to adapt that consequence for young people).

5. Shut your phone off when you attend church on Sunday unless there is a reason directly relating to the service for you to keep it on (e.g. taking notes, texting prayer requests). I will confess that I leave mine in the car on Sundays so I will not be tempted to look at it.

   
6. Set up separate email accounts for work and personal correspondence so that while you are out of the office you are totally out of the office. One member of FYI’s team said she uses two different email providers to make the experience of checking each account feel more distinct and separate.

7. If you refrain from texting and social media as part of your weekly Sabbath, see if a friend will babysit your phone and reply to the messages that you do receive. “This is Art, Brad is celebrating the Sabbath today and left his phone at the office. He’ll get back to you tomorrow.” This also conveys a lot of trust, and implies that you don’t have anything on your phone you would be embarrassed about a friend or co-worker seeing.

8. When you set your phone down during a conversation or when you’re home, be intentional about placing it face down so that you can’t see any notifications as they come in and are less prone to glance at it.

9. Create a “no tech during meals” at home rule that both kids and adults regularly follow so you can practice face-to-face conversation. If it’s too much to make this a standard rule, start with one meal per week. Model for your kids that pretty much any call, text, or post can wait until dinner is done.

10. If you have a hobby that doesn’t involve tech, turn your phone off before you start. If you feel like you need to explain later, you can say, “I turned my phone off to practice guitar for a while.” Doing this without apologizing can help create a new culture among your connections that allows space to be digitally disconnected at times.

11. We have previously encouraged not allowing digital technology in a young person’s bedroom—the same applies for adults.

 

12. There are a number of apps available that can help you with setting limits on where and for how long you spend time online.
   
http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/blog/viamedia-intro