Re: Waste of time?

Video games do get a lot of flack for being the thing most associated with immature men. Granted, for that "30 year old in his mom's basement," if it were not video games, it would be something else that was an equal waste of time. The problem is not the video games.
If we all made lists of those activities that we considered a waste of time, they might all be activities that we ourselves did not participate in. It's easy for me to say that video games have no productive value, because I don't know much about them and don't have much room to stand on. At the same time, I might get defensive if my enjoyment of coffee and bicycles were deemed wasteful.
If all things are created for our enjoyment (within the boundaries God put in place and in moderation) then can anything be called a waste of time? Is there any definition or standard? I would argue that the standard is God's character. When ___ behavior does not reflect His character or cause us to ponder Him, then I might go so far as to say that it is a waste of time.
For believers, I think it is our duty to "spur up one another" in activities that edify the body or edify my personal involvment in the body. I think if i were to ask myself how some of my behaviors are edifying, I might have little to say about their productive value.
And just to throw a low blow out there to stay on topic, I have seen very little productive and edifying value to video games, and have heard poor defences for their value.
Also, responding to a discussion that originated from Twitter in this form is probably a waste of time as well :)

I Got Hit By A Car!!

Probably most people who operate within the Gregorian calendar have their own version of a sort of New Years resolution, or goal, or something like that. Personally, I’ve always liked the idea but I’ve never felt like I ever made “good” resolutions at the beginning of the year. Most of that is due to the lack of thought that went into making the plan in the first place. This year- I want to learn to appreciate more. I want to be blown away in wonder.

 Just speaking from opinion, life may be the most under-appreciated things in the world. I realized this personally this past week when I had an accident on my bike. I was riding in downtown Jackson, parallel with traffic, when a car to my left made a right turn at an intersection directly into me. At the time, I was probably pedaling at about 15-18 mph and the impact made me roll over his hood and slide on the pavement for about 6 feet.

I stood up, looked around, picked up my bike, looked around some more, and walked it over to the sidewalk. People were staring. I made a quick vital check of myself. I knew I hadn’t hit my head, and I was standing upright so that was a plus. Other than that I couldn’t feel anything wrong other than the abnormal amounts of adrenaline in my system. The man rushed out of his car and came over to me. His face and expression was in panic. He checked to see if I was alright. All I could do was smile in a half laugh and tell him that as far as I could tell everything was fine. I introduced myself and he told me his name was Al. Sharp dresser and really nice guy.

We talked for a little while and I reassured him that I was ok and my bike was ok. I really couldn’t think of any words of lecture. What could I say? Other than a couple of raspberries, I was fine. What blew me away was the fact that standing in front of me was a man that cared. He as well had no lecture for me. He didn’t say anything about how bicyclists shouldn’t be on the road or take different routes or whatever. He was being a genuine person caring for another person. Part of me wanted to sit down with him and share some coffee and just hang out. My friend Corey told me that if drivers and cyclists were to get angry and start lecturing each other it’s not going to bring us any closer together. We all need the road, therefore we all need to get along as we use it.

In some ways, I’ve already learned to enjoy and appreciate the life I have been given, but I can’t always say the same for the life of others. Learning to appreciate and value the life that the Creator gave to others is going to take way more than a year but I’m planning to be a little more intentional about it.