i don't want to type it out twice

so i simply cut an paste it here. enjoy!

reallife.MINISTRIES:: get to know your pastor - blogging

so you know by now that i'm really getting into this blogging scene. i think it's really a culmination of many things coming together.

although i'd read many books and articles about the benefits of journaling i was first intrigued by the concept in college. i think i'd read an article on spiritual disciplines so i went down to the local bookstore and bought myself a basic journal. i don't really remember what i wrote about in those first days, but i do remember i filled that book and eventually bought more.

i also remember in college (i don't remember if it was before or after the actual "journal") that i used to carry around with me little 'notepads' and a pen. i used to write down various random thoughts, reminders, appointments, etc. in these. i kinda felt like a journalist. since i always carried them with me they'd get pretty tattered in my back pocket. and the pen i carried would sometimes leak and leave a spot on my pants. deb remembers a time when every pair of jeans i owned had a little black ink spot on the back pocket about the size of a quarter. i got this 'notepad' idea from a former "Bible Quiz" coach. he also used to carry these notepads around everywhere. but what intrigued me was when i heard his wife say that their kids would always wonder why he kept all of them, but that she knew when the time came when he was dead that her kids would see those little notepads as a prized possession. far more valuable than any other inheritance that he might leave.

also in college i had a friend whom i respected named Bo. one day i went to his dorm room late at night and i saw him typing at his computer (rather fast i might add). i asked him if he was working on a paper and his reply was that he was writing to his daily journal. back then he simply had a word document that he added to the end of every day. it'd be interesting to find out if he has a blog out somewhere. the reason this had an impact on me was because it was someone i knew. one of my peers, someone my age who was actually doing this "journaling" stuff. not some old guy or lady writing about it in some book.

so ever since then i've had this intrigue with journaling. i've wanted to do it. i think it'd be a good exercise; mentally and spiritually. although part of me has been reluctant. mostly because i wouldn't want to fail by not having anything to write; not posting as often as bloggers should (or at least my preconceived idea of how often bloggers should).

in fact i tried starting a personal blog a few years ago, mostly because i thought it was a novel idea, not as a way of journaling. it was only recently that the mental shift took place in my mind. it was THIS blog itself that got me interested in blogging again. i began this blog as a way to reach out to the students of grandview in a new way. trying new things to reach a new generation. unlike that other blog though this one is meant for interaction. interaction is welcomed and encouraged over there, but it is truly more of a place for jounaling and a place for my family to remember me if i'm in heaven before them (should the Lord tary).

so that's it, that's how, why, and the 'because' of this blogging craze i'm into. and frankly after keeping this up for a month now, i don't think it's a craze. this is my way of life. so if you've read this far you truly have gotten to know your pastor a little better.

cheers! :-)