Easy to carry along

I'm writing this post before I write something in my diary about yesterday, so the thoughts are still fresh and have not left my brain yet. Also usually I don't talk as much about my personal relationship with God, as again, it's probably the utmost private thing I have, but I want to share my thoughts here today. Also in this post I just chat about things that go on at my church, including things that cannot be easily explained as they are supernatural. I still try my best to explain everything briefly. Due to the length of this post I’m going to divide it into two parts, firstly some general things and then the events of last Sunday.

Last weekend I had a great time, even though quite a while I thought that this wouldn't be the case. Let me elaborate. Our church had some visitors from the USA who were on a mission trip in Switzerland. They all attend the same school that belongs to a big church in the US. I have not yet seen through it completely, but when it comes to that church, my church is kind of obsessed.

I really consider it unhealthy from time to time, and I have never made an effort to hide me being displeased. Yes, some of my friends are there, or they plan to attend, some have paid it a visit before. I'd never say they are some kind of fangirls/boys, following the newest trend. I believe that the movement there does a lot of good in the name of God and that I know nothing bad about them to say, but I still have a big problem with what's going on. Sometimes it seems that this church alone is good, holy and blessed. They listen to their music, watch their services online, read their pastor's books and all in all it looks like they are putting those people way too high above themselves. Yes, they are gifted, but so are people in our church. They reach more people, but since when is it quantity over quality? (I didn't say that the quality is bad, but from what I know they started out small, like everyone does)

You see, I'm not opposed to the work, nor the people, but I'm opposed to the hype. Some people behaved like we were going to have celebrities in the house, when all they did was using their God given gift for what they got it, serving. They probably received better teaching than most of us so they serve very well, but from what I got to know about them they also have a servants heart, which means they are humble. Before this weekend I was so distracted by what people said and how they reacted to their coming, that I myself put this group on a pedestal, just on a bad one. I'm more than happy to say that I was wrong.

There is a reason why I act opposed to the whole behaviour and I must admit it's not because I'm clever enough to see through people who just play along and are secretly dishonest with themselves. I get told that I'm reasonable a lot which is probably a good description and I like it. The problem is that apart from being reasonable I am also very passionate. If I'd let myself then I could easily jump on every bandwagon around me. I just don't want that all the time, so I keep that passion stored somewhere inside of me so it doesn't break loose all the time. That doesn't mean that I'm calm or anything, I have no problem to express myself and be a bit crazy, but there is one area of life when it's very different, namely everything that has to do with God.

I don't want to exaggerate around him; I just want to be me, and the most me I could actually be. I don't want to be shaken or swept off my feet, just because it happens to my peers. I don't want to lift my hands during worship because it's the norm at church. I don't want to pray in tongues, or pretend to be able to do it just for the sake of belonging. (Disclaimer, I don't say I knew of anyone who does that but could easily see it happen). Me and God, us, that's what I want. I want to honour him because I want to. I want to desire to follow where he leads me because that's my actual heart cry to. For me, God does not do anything to force me, he just picks up my hand and then we see together what's next. I'm not his puppet, instead we are a team. He talks to me in the way that makes me comfortable, he doesn't want to scare me and for me that shows just how much he loves me, as a unique person.

That was all I wanted to write about today, the second part follows Wednesday

Cheerio.

As it seems YouTube did a thing...

Yes, as of the day before yesterday, there now is a regional YouTube page for Switzerland, meaning there is the address youtube.ch. When I first heard of that I wasn't that impressed as I thought it was nothing spectacular, but a friend of mine changed my point of view a bit. This post will explain at some point how YouTube works, at least what I understood so far.

As you might or might not know, I've fallen in love with YouTube lately. I did two videos, the third is in the process of being done (I need to refilm it as I hate what I did...), but to this point I'm rather consuming than producing. When said friend announced on twitter that it's now easier to become a YouTube partner and that at some point we might even get a creator space, I started to realize what that really meant for the local YouTube Community. So at first let me explain you those two things, "YouTube Partner" and "Creator Space"

There is a thing called the partner program, I don't know the Swiss rules yet, but in the UK you need to have 10'000 subscriber and you can get into that program. It includes some perks like getting money from your video's ads and the possibility to go to the creator space

The creator space is literally one of the coolest things ever. The first was opened in London, there are two in the USA and one opens in Tokyo really soon, at least as far as I know. It's a place where YouTube partners can hang out, film collabs and even get professional help on their work. Also there aspiring but not so famous creators get teachings on how to improve their content. So if we'd get one of those, it would be a huge chance for the Swiss YouTube community.

I can see a problem there though. When I asked my twitter friend how many Swiss vloggers, or youtubers at all, she knew, she had admitted that she knew none, just like me. Where are all the creators here? I'm sure they're out there, not yet known. So maybe this whole YouTube thing gives us a voice. Maybe my friend will start producing stuff, maybe I will, and of course others are already doing great stuff. Let's see what we get out of this. I've heard that it might be a chance for musicians, but I'd really like to see about sketch makers and vloggers, maybe some make-up gurus too.

I still continued to make a little research and found a Swiss vlogger. The thing is her videos are German, and I'm not sure about how I like that, I mean it wasn’t „originally Swiss“, as it wasn’t swiss-german, but it wasn’t as international as it could’ve been if she used English. There are good German youtubers out there, and I don’t want to limit their success, but I enjoy the English language way too much. Maybe I'll do a post about the whole language topic another time, but let's end this here.