THE OPENING BLAST
Well, I’m entering the BLOGOSPHERE.
Frankly, I’ve resisted for a long time. My reticence has looked like this random collection of objections:
- Blogging smacks of self-importance. I’m not sure anyone wants to read my musings about what cereal I’m eating & how I miss Chris Berman on ESPN
- Journey people get more than enough Ed every weekend. One of my biggest challenges every week is to keep the message length down to something reasonable.
- The last thing I need is more people to get back to. I’m not keeping up with my email as it is.
- Etc etc
Still a bunch of people around me encouraged me to think about diving in. Then I noticed that I’d started to read other people’s blogs. I’ve always read famous smart type people’s blogs (esp. Scot McKnight’s jesuscreed.org) but I’ve started to keep track of some blogs from some ordinary people (not that they aren’t smart) – peeps from Journey, friends from around the country. I noticed how much I appreciated seeing how their life with God was working itself out in the ins & outs of their existence & their thinking processes.
Another thought hit me: maybe if I threw in some thoughts from each weekend, maybe, just maybe, it might actually keep the messages shorter.
Speaking of the messages & weekends at Journey, I began to reflect on how often I have people waiting to chat before, in between & after services that I can never get to. I hate the thought that as our church grows (that seems to be happening quite a bit right now) that I would become this inaccessible talking head. I know some of the blogs I have been reading help me to know what’s going on in the lives of people that I admire who feed my soul.
Finally, there was a frustration component. There’s stuff that I’d like to throw out there that may be helpful or at least get people thinking that simply is not appropriate for a weekend message. I know often when I throw in some random thought it is as likely to offend as encourage.
So here we go:
Ed’s Journey will launch this week:
√ We’ll try to give some reflection every week on the weekend that just passed & sometimes the one coming up.
√ I’ll try to give some insight into my own life. Nothing to exhibitionistic, but some insight into what I’m up to.
√ I plan to post something at least a couple of times a week. I also hope to see figure out if anyone is reading this bad boy & if not, I’ll be cool with shutting it down.
√ The bible says “let all things be done for edification” (1 Cor 14:26) so hopefully if you check this blog out it will help you on your way to loving God & your neighbor in the way of Jesus.
√ We (we? What do I have a mouse in my pocket?) plan to be authentic here – if you don’t like sports, if you object to secular culture, if you don’t want to hear about surfing, if you need pastor types to be flaw free and share all of your exact same convictions & views, if you feel like the “edification” word above means you’ll always be affirmed in those convictions & views, you might want to just keep clicking.
My sincere hope is that this is fun & that the name of My Friend & Savior, Jesus, is loved a little more though this flawed life.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Ed
