A few weeks ago after watching this video, I began to think about all the noise in my life. Noise that I thought helped me but actually just distracts me from what is happening right in front of my eyes.

It’s sad when you realize that when your kids are talking to you, you are spending more time looking at your phone or laptop then your their eyes. I love technology but it has created this “hum” in every minute of my life, and without realizing it, I have become addicted to that noise.

So last week I decided to experiment with the noise in my life, starting with my cell phone. My phone is my second brain… my memory. It has my calendar, my contacts, my todo list ect… I can’t live without it. But on top of the things my phone does to help me be productive, I also have it set up to receive email from three different accounts, notify me whenever anyone on Twitter say’s anything about nothing, Facebook alerts me whenever anyone comments on anything I post, or if anyone likes something I post, or if anyone comments or likes anything that I already liked or commented on which leads to an endless abyss of Facebook notifications that go on forever and ever and ever. (That’s a whole different post)

Between email, twitter, Facebook, and regular old fashion communication like telephone calls and text messges, it’s not an exageration to say that my phone is constantly making noise and wanting my attention.

When I started thinking about all this extra noise in my life and if I really needed it, I was surprised by the answer, it was no.

No, I don’t need to know every time one of my friends was eating lunch, or at Starbucks or had just increased their bean crop on Farmville. I didn’t need to see the latest Twitpic of someone seats at a concert, funny sign they just passed or plate they just licked clean. And honestly, when I leave the office, there is nothing that is so important that I need to be able to read email about it when I’m with my family.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy that stuff. (except Farmville, I HATE that) I LOVE that it is so easy to communicate with my friends around the world and around the block. But I don’t NEED it. Not all the time.

So… I turned it off. Just on my phone. (Except email during business hours and only work email)

It wasn’t easy. In fact, it took a few days to break the habit of constantly looking down at my phone.

It might not have been easy, but it has been one of the best things I have ever done. You might not believe me, but the simple act of turning off those things on my phone has brought a level of peace in my life that I would have never imagined.

Am I still gonna Twitter, use Facebook, check email, write and read blogs? Yes, but I don’t have too.

Until I stopped I never knew what kind of habit I had developed.

There will always be noise in my life, I can’t control that. (I have two kids after all) But there is some noise I can control. Noise I can regulate. And from now on, I’m going to try to do a better job with the regulation of that noise.

I would encourage you to try the same thing. We all can’t move to the woods and live in a tent, but it is possible to unplug, even for just a few hours a day.

Received this email the other day from my wife.

Probably the cutest thing i’ve ever read….

Subject: Note from Reese

Fairies are water

One bottle of cake

I like owls today and I like butterflies

I like to watch Sleeping Beauty

I like Cameron so much that will make me happy

Reese asked me to write these out and send them to you =)

My heart almost exploded.

Last month I read the book “IT” by Craig Groeschel. I loved it. A book every pastor should read as well as anyone that has anything to do with any kind of  leadership.

I was reading over some of the things I underlined and some of the notes/thoughts I wrote down, and I came across the prayer that Craig prays at the end of the book and I wanted to share it with you.

I hope that I never come to the place that I am too scared to pray this for myself.

“May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, and starvation, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. That’s it. Amen.”

Obviously, unless you love under a rock you have heard about the devastating earth quake that hit Haiti. The casualty rate is still going up and the need for the basics like food, water, blankets etc. is enormous!

You can’t watch what is happening in Haiti and not want to get involved, but how? There are so many great organizations that are mobilizing to fill the great need it’s hard to know which one you should support or as sad as it is to say, TRUST.

If you are like me and are looking for a place to help, I wanted to share a link with you. Healing Place Church led by Pastor Dino Rizzo are already on the ground in Haiti hard at work.

I have ABSOLUTE trust in the integrity of Dino and his staff and church. You can trust that they will do what they say they will do with your support.

Here’s the link that Healing Place Church has set up to collect support donations. Obviously, if you don’t live in Baton Rouge you most likely won’t be able to drop off the medical supplies that are needed, but if you could at least make a donation that would be HUGE!

http://www.healingplacechurch.org/haiti/

A few months ago City Life Kids, the children’s outreach ministry of Shady Grove Church, was invited to participate in the after school program at one of the local rec. centers in Grand Prairie.

Chris, one of the rec. center directors, was a part-time staff members a few years ago when Lifewalk, our school of discipleship volunteered at the rec center once a week. Chris, now a full time director told us that of all the programs that come through the center, he could always tell how much our group really did love the kids and what an impact that their GODLY influence made on the kids lives. Now that Chris is in charge of the after school program, he wanted to make sure the kids had that Godly influence again.

Currently Andrew Taylor and Sean Sebastian (or as I like to call them “Seandrew”) run the program at the rec center twice a month for about 30+ kids. They are having an amazing impact in the lives of the students. Their visits have already become the favorite parts of the after school program for the kids. Between the Watering Hole (K thru 4th grade), Amplify (5th/6th grade) or the nursery ministry on Sunday morning and our increasing list of outreach opportunities* with City Life Kids there are plenty of opportunities for you to get involved and see lives changed. (both the kid’s lives and yours) WILL YOU PRAY ABOUT GETTING INVOLVED WITH SHADY GROVE KIDS/CITY LIFE KIDS TODAY? *We really do have outreach opportunities opening up for City Life Kids every day. If we had the resources (PEOPLE being the greatest need, finances second.) we could be doing outreach 7 days a week. If you want to get involved in some way, you can email me at niles.holsinger@shadygrove.org.