Will Facebook and I become friends?

For the last 5+ years, I have intentionally avoided Facebook like the plague. I have had reasons for this. They are as follows:

1. I hate doing things "just because everyone else is doing it." For a while, creating a Facebook account was something that "everyone" did. Well I'll be danged if I was going to jump on that train.

2. Most of the people that I care to keep up with I see or communicate with regularly already. If there's someone I don't speak with on a regular basis, there's probably a good reason. I have very little desire to find long lost "friends."

3. Similar to the first two, I'm just not that interested in knowing what's going on in other people's lives all the time. I like to be informed, but for the sake of knowledge, not entertainment. I'm social, but not that social.

Perhaps I have some sort of a social-media-phobia. When I set up a twitter account in January (follow me at twitter.com/davidprairie), I felt dirty. Like I had broken a personal vow. But now the prospect of having a Facebook account mortifies me.

So why am I saying all of this? Two weeks ago I was asked to become the youth pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Chattanooga. Part of my job description is to interact with teens in our group as regularly as possible. And how do teens like to interact? Bingo.

So the days, and maybe even the hours, of my life without Facebook are dwindling faster than the Cubs' playoff chances, which is saying a lot. It's been a battle that I've fought for many moons, and now it appears I've lost. Here's hoping the guilt is short-lived.