giving something up...from myspace

Lent. 40 Days.

I always give something up or add something to my life during lent. When I say always - I started as a kid. I used to save all my coins during lent and then would give them to the church on Easter.

Some years, the practice of giving something up has been life changing. to challenge myself to give something up that I really like and then to realize that it isn't even close to what Jesus gave up on the cross for me. As a United Methodist - I don't have to give anything up - but I can...

What's interesting is that a lot of my friends do it now too. We(people in general) want to experience a suffering, in a sense, so that we can relate to others and hopefully feel something of the pain that Jesus went through.

So here's the kicker...what am I going to give up this year? From March 1st till Easter? My myspace page.

Ick. I was talking with a couple of my youth at lunch today and we were talking about Lent and what we could give up that really takes up a lot of our time...and one of them said, "I should give up myspace". And as soon as she said it - I knew that was what I was going to do. What is sad - is that it will be harder for me to do than it should be. But so it goes. So my page should say February 28th as the last day - it was visited...for 40 days.

And in the mornings, instead of logging on to myspace when I get to my office, I am going to pray. Pray. Cause - now I will have more time. And I can always spend more time than I do to pray.

I challenged my youth tonight - to think of something that they could give up for lent as well. It starts this Wednesday! So let me know how it is going!