Loving and Learning

July 19th I set out for NYC. It's not a new destination. In fact, this is the fifth consecutive year that I've joined the group at SpreadTruth to see God at work in the city. More specifically, for me, in Brooklyn. Each year carries a different flavor, and each year God impacts me in different ways. For a couple of years, I went through New York parks and did evangelism or set up prayer stations in the streets to talk to and pray with people. But this is the third year of doing Summer Fun Week at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and it's been a wonderful three years!

Now, Summer Fun Week probably isn't like any Vacation Bible School that you've ever experienced. We had up to 640 kids from Brooklyn and beyond for five days. I'm not exactly sure how many leaders and staff we had, but most groups probably averaged up to ten or fifteen kids for one or two leaders. For many of these leaders, it's their first time at Summer Fun Week. Our director affectionately refers to the first day of Summer Fun Week as "Baptism by Fire;" I think that's a fair descriptor. I honestly can't remember much from the first day. My brain really only remembers things from Tuesday forward.

A bracelet that one of my kids made at Summer Fun Week! Any similarities to the French flag are purely coincidence and do not reflect the views or opinions of the person posting this image.

A photo posted by Nathan Snyder (@snyderxc) on Aug 9, 2015 at 12:25pm PDT

My role as a commander was different. I didn't have a crew of my own, but was set to oversee seven crews of kids from seven to eight years old. Nonetheless, I always have a couple of kids that I get to know pretty well over the week. As I'm overseeing my group, I like to go around to different groups and get to know the names of some of the kids, tap them on the head and ask if they're having fun, ask them if they're listening to their leaders, etc. Before I knew it, I had a couple of kids that wanted me to go everywhere with them. It's a special thing to see the positive impact you can have in someone's life, even for a short week.

One thing that I saw over the course of the week was how much the kids respected their leaders. By Thursday I could ask them to be quiet for one of my leaders who was losing her voice and they complied without issue. It was such a huge blessing to see that! The leaders loved their kids, and the kids really loved them back. At one point I had a line of kids waiting for me to pick them up during worship. It was really heartwarming to be able to see these kids having a good time, especially because it may be a stark contrast to their home. I've got a number of kids that I just fell in love with for the week, and the opportunity to show Christ's love to them was a real privilege.

Kids are a workout! #spreadtruthnyc

A photo posted by Nathan Snyder (@snyderxc) on Jul 23, 2015 at 1:45pm PDT

We had the opportunity to be Christ's witness to these 600+ kids for a week, and it was a blessing. I can't wait to go back, and I'm praying that God continues to work into the lives of these kids. It's pretty special to be able to make that kind of an impact. I wouldn't give that week back for anything, and I'm already looking ahead to the trip next year! I pray for God's continued work in Brooklyn, NYC, and the world, and I'm glad to be a small part of it.

Endings

After four years at Grove City College, it's time for graduation. There were times when I wasn't sure I would make it, but I wouldn't trade the last four years for anything. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. I've met people that I would never have met, done things that I would never have done, and learned things that I would never have thought about. Honestly, it's all gone really fast. I've come to appreciate the difficulties I've faced and some of the rules we have. I've also been fortunate enough to be around Grove City for a lot of change over the past four years.

• Three professors have left the computer science department
• Three new professors have joined the computer science department
• The computer science department is ABET accredited for the first time
• Grove City opened two new buildings on campus
• Grove City selected and  inaugurated a new president
• Intervis now includes Wednesday nights
• Probably a few other significant events that I'm missing

Additionally, I've finished my competitive running career. Although, I still plan to continue running, and have registered for a half marathon in October. The cross country team has provided some great friendships, and I'm going to miss having running partners.

I've also learned to Swing dance and Ballroom dance over the past three years, which I'll be continuing to do for as long as I can find a place. I never knew that I loved to dance until then. I've made some of my best friends through it and will miss it terribly.

I'm also very thankful for good church friends / family that have opened their homes to me, and put up with the antics that come along with a house full of college kids. It's been a huge blessing!

Last, I'd be remiss not to mention my Redcoat family and other friends. It won't be the same without spending my days or Thursday dinners without them. I BLEED RED!

I'm so appreciative for everything, and more importantly everyone I've met over the past years. "Because I knew you I have been changed for good." Thank you.

And since I'm a little bit sappy, I'll close with this video: Frank Sinatra - We'll Meet Again (Not the original version)

Nathan

Be Still

Three weeks ago, I was on vacation. It was enjoyable and relaxing, though I can't exactly say I was still much of that time. Two weeks ago, I saw Sara Bareilles in concert. She was splendid, and awe inspiring, and her voice was as captivating as it always is, but it was far from quiet. One week ago, I was in New York City, the City that never sleeps. While I suspect that I slept better than many, it was neither a still nor quiet week.

So, here, four days removed from that trip, I am. I'm nothing but thankful for the last three weeks, but I was hit out of the blue with simply a need to be quiet. For the first time since I got home in May, I drove the route home from work without music. I have never been particularly good at taking more than about ten to fifteen minutes to just be quiet, but today, it was something I felt I needed. I didn't need to be stimulated by blasting choruses of my favorite artists or by an audiobook that I'm listening to or a podcast to get my fill of tech news for the week. I simply needed to be still, though I was driving at fifty miles per hour.

“Be still, and know that I am God" –Psalm 46:10 

I believe that it's in the silence that we hear most clearly what God would have us hear. This is something I need to do more often.

An Unforgettable Week in the Big Apple

Last week was quite a whirlwind. Amidst the baseball games, the great food, and the many rides on the subway, I was with a group, pouring love and energy into the lives of kids at the Brooklyn Tabernacle.

I was privileged to be working to with a group of kids 12 and older. At the same time, I was pretty nervous going into the week. I wasn't sure exactly what I would tell the kids, and I am always worried trying to talk on the spot. It was something I was praying for in the months leading up to the trip.

It turned out that my answer was twofold. I think it took me until about Tuesday to realize the first part. SpreadTruth developed an app, called Questions in a Box. In the app, there are a couple of categories. Some for acquaintances, some for best friends. On Tuesday, I pulled it out after the group lesson. I still had about ten minutes to fill before games, and I was completely out of ideas of things to talk about. I pulled out the app, and it offered me the question, "If you had one wish, what would it be?" One girl thought for a long time as we went around the rest of the group. When I went back to her, her answer was well though out. "I wish my sister didn't need surgery," she told us.

I took that opportunity to reiterate to her that God cares about her and her sister, and that He would be watching over it. Then we prayed together. The surgery is on August 7th, and I'll be praying about it until then.

The second, but perhaps larger part of my answer to prayer was Deana. She was my co-leader for the week, and was a huge blessing to me and the kids. Just about as soon as I walked one of the boys to the bathroom, the girls would start talking to her. It was truly a blessing having someone who could interact with the girls one personally than I could.

The week was an enormous learning experience. Wednesday was hard, as I sat with my head down and heard probably a dozen kids say that they were worried about something out of their control. I had to hold back tears hearing about these twelve year olds who were worried about stuff they shouldn't be worried about for a long time.

Still, in a broken world, there is hope. I got to see God work in the lives of three of my kids as they made decisions to follow Christ at the end of the week.

I'll be praying for them, and for God's work in their lives. I loved the week I had there, made some amazing friends, and I can't wait to go back next year.

Here's the recap video for the week:

Nathan

The Internet through a Prism

Image courtesy of Klara on Flickr

I'm not the kind of person who gets too worked up about privacy.  I keep a public Twitter and Google+ page, and have considered doing the same with my Facebook.  I do, however, think that government surveillance is going to far if what we've seen about Prism is true.

A slide leaked by an anonymous source to the Guardian and The Washington Post claims Prism is a program within the United States National Security Agency (NSA) under which the U.S. Government supposedly has direct access to the information stored by some of the biggest technology companies in the world.  These companies include Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype, YouTube, AOL and PalTalk.  While all of the companies have denied that the U.S. Government has direct access to their servers, the White House has a different statement on the matter, acknowledging the act but denying that it targets U.S. citizens:

The Guardian and Washington Post articles refer to collection of communications pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This law does not allow the targeting of any U.S. citizen or of any person located within the United States.
The program is subject to oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the Executive Branch, and Congress. It involves extensive procedures, specifically approved by the court, to ensure that only non-U.S. persons outside the U.S. are targeted, and that minimize the acquisition, retention and dissemination of incidentally acquired information about U.S. persons.
This program was recently reauthorized by Congress after extensive hearings and debate.
Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats.
The Government may only use Section 702 to acquire foreign intelligence information, which is specifically, and narrowly, defined in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This requirement applies across the board, regardless of the nationality of the target.

Things get even more complicated, because there is indication that the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has had access to the data since June 2010.  While Larry Page, CEO of Google, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, have both made personal statements denying any form of participation in the program, there's still a lot that is unclear.

I think that it's important not to ignore this, however, I also recognize the practicalities of the situation.  I have an account on eight of the nine services listed on the slides and while I'm not going to sit here and claim that I'm going to get up and leave if this is true, and quit Google or Facebook, I think we have a right to request transparency from the government and from these companies on matters of our personal information.  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is proposing an amendment that would put an end to this, but barring that,  Google has a transparency dashboard where they outline government requests for information, as well as whether or not they comply with those requests, but just yesterday added National Security Letters to that dashboard in the light of this story.  Finally, I'd like echo Larry's call for more transparency, so that we can have the freedom that this country was founded for:

Finally, this episode confirms what we have long believed—there needs to be a more transparent approach. Google has worked hard, within the confines of the current laws, to be open about the data requests we receive. We post this information on our Transparency Report whenever possible. We were the first company to do this. And, of course, we understand that the U.S. and other governments need to take action to protect their citizens’ safety—including sometimes by using surveillance. But the level of secrecy around the current legal procedures undermines the freedoms we all cherish.

Further reading:
Lifehacker: What the NSA Spying Scandal Means for You
The Guardian: Facebook and Google insist they did not know of Prism surveillance program
The Atlantic: Could This Be How PRISM Technically Works?

Summer Update

Well, I guess it's been a while since I updated this.  I'm back from Grove City for the summer.  Freshman year was quite the challenge.  Still, I managed to survive my classes, and get through Calculus II.  The good news is that I've been feeling pretty comfortable with my computer programming classes, so I'm off to a good start in that direction.
This summer, I've got a number of things that I'm going to be doing to keep myself busy.  Tomorrow, I will be finishing my third week as an intern at Solo Labs.  I've been fortunate to be able to work there, get some programming in, and just learn to deal with the world of IT a little bit.  I'm enjoying it there, and will be the rest of the summer.  I am also going to NYC with Spreadtruth and my church to do some street evangelism. I did this last year, and I'm looking forward to it this year just as much, if not more!  It's fantastic to stretch yourself and just commit everything that you do to God, because it's kinda scary talking to people right off the streets.  Finally, as my ongoing summer plan, I've been working on getting ready for the next cross country season!  I know it's going to be a challenge, yet again, to make the team, so I'm putting in the work to prepare myself to be ready in the fall.  Getting in some long runs, ab work, and a little bit of biking mixed in will go a long way!

Anyways, I'll try to update this blog more consistently.
Until next time,
Nathan

A Sad State of Affairs

Daniel Boone High School.  It's a mess right now.  It's largely the result of the actions of a few, and the lack of response from the remainder of the student body.  Look, it's easy enough to blame the few, and without a doubt they are to blame, but you must stand up, call them out and teach them what it means to have the privilege and honor of representing Daniel Boone High School.

Look at what this school has been:
A history of successful sports
A student who has interviewed celebrities at the Academy Awards
A student who performed at the Grammy's after-party
And some that I've forgotten to mention.

What is our school representing now?

The sad thing is that a few people are making our school look bad.  Some of you know who they are, and you need to set them straight and tell them to figure it out.  It's time for a wake up call.  It's time for boys to become men, and not some bigoted, racist imbeciles.

John Watts is right.  We're actually digressing from the progress that we've made as a culture.  Last year, I would have never thought that racism of any kind would be a problem at Daniel Boone.

"My senior year Mr. Bailey said that he was truly impressed by how tolerant our student body was. He mentioned how well we all worked together and were accepting of one another and how we would high five the special education students as they walked down the hallway, treating everyone respectfully. This was one of the most wonderful compliments that I think a group of young people has ever received and I thought it spoke of the maturity of Daniel Boone students."  --Tyler Shumock

Apologies if you can't see the above links. Long story short:  Grow up, and tell those around you to do the same.

Windows Phone 7 Bashing

So, I was in a Verizon store yesterday, and chanced to ask the store manager about a "Kin One" feature phone. (I know someone who was looking for a new feature phone.) He responded by bashing the (admittedly short-lived) Kin, and Windows Phone 7 in general.
I was rather taken aback, even as an Android fan. The store manager told me that they merely unbox the shipment, play with them, and ship them back. He described high return rates and described the software as a nightmare. It got me to thinking, if the store manager won't even stock them, no wonder Microsoft can't sell them.
I think Windows Phone 7 has a beautiful UI, so I was shocked. I certainly hope this is the exception rather than the rule!

Thank You Steve

I'm not going to apologize for offending people.  I just have to put this out there.

I'm not sure why I'm writing this.  I'm not sure what my connection is.  I've never owned an Apple product, but somehow, the loss of Steve Jobs is impacting me.  I could gloss over what a visionary he was, I could say I think how he's the greatest businessman of all time, but that's already been said.  I could say how I bet he's just a really awesome guy and a great dad, but that's already been said too.

What I'm pondering, is controversial, but I have to get it off my chest.  The reason I'm saddened, is that I'm a Christian, and that Steve wasn't.  He was a Buddhist.  I don't believe he is going to heaven, and that is crushing me.  An incredible person, a great businessman and a great dad, and a great neighbor, and gifted, and talented, and a genius who thought differently than anyone of his time, but still lost.

This is so hard for me to write.  There are millions of people in his same circumstance, and his death is bringing that once again before my eyes.  I want to believe that he is in heaven, but I can't.  Maybe he is, maybe his beliefs changed before his death.  Still, there are millions who haven't.

Steve, thanks for all you have done.  Thank you for changing things.  Thank you for thinking differently.  Thank you.

Evolution of Connection

This post written with inspiration from Nadia Crawford's post

There are always things that bring us together as a group. Whether it's the radio station you're listening to, the spectacular blaze of a shuttle launch, or a common conversation on Facebook, they each give us the feeling of connecting with others.

Increasingly, the internet has become about connection. Social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, and the newest entry, Google+, aim to connect you with those you knew, those you know, and those you will know. However, at the same time, we strive for personalization, with sites like Pandora, Google, and Yelp aiming to give you exactly what you want, whether it's music or the perfect restaurant.

This has advantages and disadvantages. There isn't the same level of connection when we listen to Pandora as when we listen to the local radio station. There is a vacuum of connection beyond our typical conversations. This opens up a position for media, games, and much more that will be enhanced by the addition of our friends. (No, I'm not talking about people giving you cows on Farmville) Xbox live is perhaps one of the earliest modern entries to this era. It allows you to easily connect with your friends to play games.

One site that I've seen take this connection and personalization to the next level is Turntable.fm. Turntable allows you to select tracks to play (personalization) while voting on and listening to tracks that others play (selection). Anyone who isn't playing music can listen in on the music as a radio station curated by their friends. This is a powerful way of allowing people to interact and enjoy music with their friends.

Developers, take this as a challenge. Build something that has social at the core. Not a share button, or a hook to invite other users (Farmville gifts). Build something that brings a rich experience with the contribution of one's friends. This is the challenge, and those who do it best will succeed.

Cross Posted at Rogue Chromebook Gurus