Difficult Seasons

During the last couple of days I’ve been touched by many things I’ve read on the web from people going through difficult seasons.

The first was from a 5 year-old boy who asked his mom, “Can we pray for me a new face?  This one doesn’t work very well.”  He can’t smile as a result of brain cancer surgery.  His name is Gage, if you want to join his family and those of us who know him through CarePages in praying for him.

Then there’s a graphic prayer request from Debby, via her sister, which was posted on Flickr.  Both are well known in the Houston Twitter community.  (Be sure and take a look at this request.)

And third, Larry James wrote a nice blog post about what he’s feeling facing life following the passing of both of his parents.

Social networking, a product of Web 2.0, is powerful for building and engaging community.  As these three examples show, it’s a very effective way to reach out and share what’s happening in your life and get support from a caring community.

Maybe some of you have stories of how the web community has been helpful in supporting you through a difficult season.  If so, please post about it in the comments.

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Tomorrow, in response to several recent comments and suggestions,  I plan to start a new series here about making visits to seriously ill folks.

In place of my writing today, I thought you might enjoy a few of the places I’ve visited lately to see what others are saying.

Here’s a nice post from my new friend John Dobbs about a candle lighting ceremony they attending in remembrance of their son: http://johndobbs.com/?p=975

This post by Jen Zug includes a mixtape along with some reflections on why she’s having a hard time getting into the Christmas thing:  http://www.thispile.com/archives/mixtape-2-he-is-born

Ron Edmondson wrote this nice piece on how his interactions with folks serve as sober reminders of the preciousness of life:  http://www.ronedmondson.com/2008/12/sober-reminders.html

And another one of my twitter friends, Jon Swanson, wrote this challenging piece about considering what you want to be good at in 10 years:  http://levite.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/time-enough-to-change/

I’m thankful for what they teach me, and I think you will be too.

By the way, why don’t you join our conversations on Twitter if you haven’t already?  My i.d. is HughesJW.