hi friends. so i'm writing this morning from a quiet hotel hallway. it is 6:30 in the morning and they have computer stations around the building, so i thought i would take advantage of them and write a couple of lines.
what is on my mind this morning is the very thing that we are both doing: reading and writing this blog. three of my fellow young clergy members from the conference (there aren't too many of us young ones!) addressed the whole group last night with a session on blogging. it was an interesting session for me since i am one of the very few (i think i saw two hands) who were already blogging. but as they spoke, one thing kept coming up over and over again: purpose. what is the purpose of my blog?
i'm just not sure how to answer that right now. i guess it serves many purposes for me at this point. it is a place for reflection. it is a place for self-awareness. it is a place for helping people stay in contact with me and my family. it is a place for me to hear back from you, the readers, about my sermon thoughts or my doubts or my hopes. it is (hopefully) a witness to how jesus walks with us through all the mountaintops and valleys-of-the-shadow-of death of life, as well as in the mostly mundane flatlands of life. i know i'm not trying to set any blogging records. i know i'm not trying to start a revolution. i know i'm not trying to change anyone's mind. and, maybe what's most important right now, i know that i've come to really cherish this opportunity to be in connection with all of you - a kind of digital communion. in some way, i need this.
somewhere online (was it wikipedia? i can't remember right now...) defined a blog like this:
"A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.
In simple terms, a blog is a website, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what’s new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not."
i personally like this definition, as it is general and wide open. that's my blog right now: wide open. an open space for me to live and write in. i guess if no one was reading i would give it up, since the most important piece for me is the connection it gives me with you (a pastor i barely know, one of the ones presenting last night, said that he "knows" me fairly well because he reads my blog regularly!). but it seems that many of you are reading, and so i want to keep writing. i have no idea where it will lead, but, as is usually the case, it isn't nearly so much about the destination as it is the journey. i will journey on. thanks for journeying with me.
peace,
greg.
what is on my mind this morning is the very thing that we are both doing: reading and writing this blog. three of my fellow young clergy members from the conference (there aren't too many of us young ones!) addressed the whole group last night with a session on blogging. it was an interesting session for me since i am one of the very few (i think i saw two hands) who were already blogging. but as they spoke, one thing kept coming up over and over again: purpose. what is the purpose of my blog?
i'm just not sure how to answer that right now. i guess it serves many purposes for me at this point. it is a place for reflection. it is a place for self-awareness. it is a place for helping people stay in contact with me and my family. it is a place for me to hear back from you, the readers, about my sermon thoughts or my doubts or my hopes. it is (hopefully) a witness to how jesus walks with us through all the mountaintops and valleys-of-the-shadow-of death of life, as well as in the mostly mundane flatlands of life. i know i'm not trying to set any blogging records. i know i'm not trying to start a revolution. i know i'm not trying to change anyone's mind. and, maybe what's most important right now, i know that i've come to really cherish this opportunity to be in connection with all of you - a kind of digital communion. in some way, i need this.
somewhere online (was it wikipedia? i can't remember right now...) defined a blog like this:
"A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.
In simple terms, a blog is a website, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what’s new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not."
i personally like this definition, as it is general and wide open. that's my blog right now: wide open. an open space for me to live and write in. i guess if no one was reading i would give it up, since the most important piece for me is the connection it gives me with you (a pastor i barely know, one of the ones presenting last night, said that he "knows" me fairly well because he reads my blog regularly!). but it seems that many of you are reading, and so i want to keep writing. i have no idea where it will lead, but, as is usually the case, it isn't nearly so much about the destination as it is the journey. i will journey on. thanks for journeying with me.
peace,
greg.
Comments
Now five plus years better, I know better. I know that he did not have it all together, but what he did have was God. you have always impressed me friend, very much.
You have a passion and love that I find inspiring. I saw you interacting with your family this week and again was very impressed with you.
I was in that hallway a few hours earlier trying to capture my feelings, I struggled. However, what reading your post did for me was to inspire me a little bit more and to remnd me just what we are in this for.
Peace!
like the comment above mine, you have inspired me to keep on blogging whether there are comments or not. It's an outlet for me, as my profile describes. Every once in awhile I will hit on something that will increase comments.
And it's fun.
and, pastor blue jeans, whoever you are, i am blessed to know that i inspire you. thanks for sharing.
let's keep reading and writing and living and loving, friends, and in the meantime let's be a part of the coming of the kingdom (on earth as it is in heaven).
peace,
greg.