Social media is too often used for negative purposes.
People get angry or upset and grab their phone and without thinking type out something that probably is not needed for all to see.
There are the political and other posts that are snide and one sentence attempting to make one side of an issue look as ignorant as possible through memes and other ways to make us look dumb.
But there are good ways it can be used and I hope I have done that more often than not.
And that is by reading about the lives of those around us and what they have gone through.
Reading about Calla Davis to Megan Ekart most recently to keeping up with Aiden Johnson and Spencer Emily and Ayden Billingsley and Iliad Mullins and many other situations in which young people have been injured or seriously ill can be humbling.
It should be humbling.
It should help us to remember that most of the things we watch on the news or read on social media are so insignificant, yet we let them stress us, age us.
Reading about those above and many others who have gone through real struggle, real life and death experiences, and too often the families dealing with the death of someone should help us to lead a more humble life with proper perspective.
I have often said if you want to know what is important in life, you want to know how we should all live, spend some time with someone who is dying. Suddenly, many issues mean zilch.
If you cannot allow that to give you proper perspective then travel internationally and I am not talking about driving through poor places on the way to a resort.
I am talking about living and breathing and eating inside some of the largest slums of Africa, South American and Asia.
I am talking about watching the amount of government corruption that exists in some countries that when you are pulled over by law enforcement the expectation is to bribe them to be on your way.
I am talking about understanding that this country is not perfect, never has and never will be, but there is a reason why millions are willing to risk everything to make it here.
But we do not keep proper perspective and sometimes we really lose it over nothing.
The other day my wife and I were watching the Northside Christian service where Pastor Nate Ross was helping the congregation deal with the passing of a little girl, Calla Woods, whose father is also a Pastor at Northside.
My wife and I shed tears, sang along and worshiped in that car on I-65 heading home from Destin, Florida and were moved by Nate's words and the presence of the Woods family at the service.
Then we pulled off the interstate to grab some food at the local Burger King.
They were busy, they were behind and one family of two in their 50's or 60's were not happy that they had not received their food yet.
It had been a whole ten minutes and they...were...not...having it.
I was standing there and just had watched the Northside service and I watched a man rip a bag of fast food from a young woman who is doing the best she can because he did not get his food fast enough.
It was hard to watch and say nothing.
But as my order came up, much later, instead of confronting that couple about how ridiculous their behavior was, I smiled and said "thank you" to the woman behind the counter who was apologizing for the time.
I am not perfect.
I have been humbled and I have traveled, but even I still forget how blessed I am.
And it is usually taken out on the people I love the most, or some stranger who is just trying to survive the moment so she can pay the bills.
If you are reading this or know of any of the stories I mentioned or have traveled to poor countries and you are not changed, then you have a real soul problem.
But we are not perfect and we will slip and forget sometimes, but realize, apologize and try to be better in the future.
That is all we can do.
Take care and God Bless.
