Mean People Suck. Nice People Blog.

There comes a time in folks' lives when they need to ask, what am I doing? who do I think I am? And it's the same for those who blog, because we write a good bit on what's mostly those two questions, and when it really begins to hit home we might take awhile wrestling with what we really mean, what we're really about.

Just to throw it out there, I blog for me. I used to journal in those smaller-than-8.5x11 spiral notebooks, 5-subject thick ones, starting in high school. I wrote then what I wanted to write, doodled a bit like some of my friends, and loved it when anyone else wanted to read them. It was never a "secret diary", so it was no big to share. But it was still mine, so I still wrote for me and not an "audience".

A few years ago, we started an email list for the young couples/singles I worked with at church. Lo and behold, a more conversational way for me to journal online with friends. Did that for a few years, and then discovered blogging through an article by Andrew Jones @ TheOoze. It took on a life of its own, somewhere between the spiral notebooks and the email list - I could write to everyone, and not feel like I was spammin' your email box.

But still, in all those outlets, I write/wrote for me. I'm the hardest person to impress with my writing, my toughest critic. I know what I like, and can write and edit for me easier than worrying about what others might say. The "conversational" aspect of blogging is wonderful - I really enjoy the feedback and discussion that can take place in the comments. But I still write for me. I might hide some of the tougher or more hurtful details of a life story in an entry, but that's more to shield those involved than anything else. For me, it's my release, my outlet to process life - and if no one else ever reads, I'll still be writing.

All that to say: this isn't an evangelism blog, but I hope you see Christ because I want to reflect Him in all I say, do and blog. This isn't a commentary blog, but I'll post on things that move me to write - you would, too. This isn't an apologetics-style blog, arguing for the truth of the gospel - you can hopefully see my "embodied apologetic" by my words and conveyed lifestyle, better than my arguments or theological prowess. This is not a "Christian blog" as much as it's a Christian's blog, dealing with God and life and anything else popping to mind.

Ministry and worship flow from within the heart of a person being overfilled by the Spirit. That's where I want to be, overfilled and overflowing - and that's how I like to write, embracing all of His grace and reflecting Him from this keyboard.

... Amen?