Insha’Allah or Que Sera, Sera?

My son and I almost had an auto accident earlier this evening.  Driving me home from work, he ran a blinking red light.  As we passed through the intersection, I saw headlights coming toward us – from his side.

After we made it through safely– and I pointed out his error, I thought about my lack of reaction.  Somehow I felt confident we would not be hit. 

I contemplated the car being wrecked.  That would have been bad (let alone either of us being hurt).  We have only the one car between us. 

Yet, I was not disturbed.  Was this fatalism - Insha’Allah, as Arabic speakers often say?  In our ignorance, we Americans see this as a shrugging “If God wills.”  (Wikipedia says it’s a statement of submission required when making plans for the future.)

Or was my feeling more like Connie Francis’ light-hearted Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)?  “The future’s not ours to see. Que sera, sera.”  This never seemed like much of an answer to me.

I find I like Wikipedia’s Insha’Allah better or maybe my own “hopeful fatalism”; it’s all in God’s loving hands.

To Twitter or Not to Twitter? Do I really want to build a social network?

I am not much of a social person.  I like to converse with one or two people and exchange thoughts on various issues or read what an author has people say.  However, I’m not much for standing around just to chat with people.  The problem is I agree with Linus from the Peanuts comic strip.  “I love Mankind…it’s people I can’t stand!!”  This is why I have refused to return to my Facebook account for some months.

I was put off by the lightweight interactions I found there.  I considered the frequent mutual admirations and silly games a waste of time.  I found I cared more for the content of what people shared than for the people who did the sharing.

However, I do need to keep my fingers in the pot with some relationships: my stepdaughters and their families, my sons and their activities, various people with common interests and goals.

Michael Hyatt is the Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the world's largest Christian publishing company.  He encourages the use of the modern technology of Twitter to keep tabs on relationships and to let people keep tabs on you.  He said it’s also needed to build a platform for book sales.  It’s a great way to have influence on people, something I feel a lack of.

Michael also encourages blogging.  Forget privacy; be open and transparent with people.  Build trust for you as a person.  Build a good reputation for your brand of whatever your product is.

I have decided, therefore, to follow Michael’s advice and sign up for Twitter for two weeks.  I’ll talk to my important relationships about their own Twitter accounts and see what happens.