It wasn’t until later in my life that I realized the importance of the company I keep. I always figured as long as I went to church and most of my friends were believers, it would be enough. What I’ve found as I’ve grown older is I need people who lift me up and, more importantly, are positive influences in my life and in the lives of others. Psalm 1:1 starts the Psalms with a powerful description; Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. This is one of those verses that cause me to weigh different influences in my life. For example, you may think this is funny, but I use Twitter on a daily basis (that’s not the funny part). One of the things that has caused me to stop following people on Twitter who I consider personal friends is negativity. While I know there is little to no weight in a tweet, I simply don’t enjoy listening to people, who are believers and who have experience God’s love and grace in their lives, choose to use a public forum to tear other people down(even public figures who do stupid things). It bothers me down to my soul and breaks my heart. I don’t make it a public spectacle and announce to the world that I’ve stopped following someone, but I consciously choose to not participate in their shenanigans and not sit in the seat of mockers.