Philospohy of Blogging

By DT
In an age where information is easier to get than food and water, blogging is a new medium that I don't yet understand. On the one hand it feels vain and narcissistic - I'm no expert so why should anyone listen to me? But on the other it is a great tool for communication and relationship. I realize that a blog does not replace raw, face-to-face relationship - it is only a tool, useful, but only a tool.

I blog for two main reasons:

I can keep in touch with people I care deeply about, many of whom are far away. I expect very few people to read my blog. I'm not aiming low on purpose but I doubt many people read blogs randomly. The ones who read my words are the people I am close to (or becoming close to) and who I love and care about as well. So in some sense I write and update my blog with them in mind. Blogs for the most part can only be opinion. They don't have an effective means of accountability or verification. How are we supposed to know if the content of a blog is true? So read discerningly...

I blog as healing and growth for my soul. For me, putting my life into words is a good discipline. It forces me to sit and ponder and then to organize my thoughts into something that can be understood. Blogs can be visual so for me they serve as an outlet for my overwhelming desire to be creative. I blog to become better at revealing the depth of my soul to God, myself, and others. So in this sense I write as if no one but God and I read my words. This is balanced with the reality that some people really will read my words so I operate in the tension between authenticity and restraint - I can't say everything that's on my mind, I guess. At least not in a blog. Writer Eugene Peterson said that he doesn't write because he has something to say, he writes to find out if he has anything to say. I understand that.

The title of my blog: AMICUS QUO VADIS? This is a latin phrase meaning, "Friend, where are you going?" We are going somewhere. Life is progressing, continually moving. Time stops for no one. If life is a journey I want to know the destination. I want to know about God and eternity. The spiritual journey of life is meant to be shared. I am not alone. We journey together. We are most alive when we experience God through other people. We all are wasting away slowly - age, disease, pain, suffering, and death. But God promises something miraculous in the midst of a dying world: renewal both spiritually and physically.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

I have come to realize how important perspective and conviction are to a life of faith. God is mysterious and it is so easy for me to go through life not pondering, not thinking, not considering, not looking for the mark of God on my life. Thinking is difficult. Wisdom has to be earned and developed.

"There is a way that seems right to a person but it ends in death." - Proverbs 14:12. The choices we make, what we believe, what we value, all this has deep and lasting impact on our lives. In reality, we have very little control over life but on the other hand the decisions we make have lasting impact. Therefore, it is so important for me to ask the question "Where am I going?" and to have others ask it of me as well. I am not alone in my choices. I live life among other people. It is important for me to have the input of outside voices. I can easily become convinced of something that I think is good but in reality will destroy me. The phrase also reminds me of the importance of walking through life with good friends. Good friends are hard to come by but one of the marks of intimate friendship is the ability and willingness to ask each other the hard questions about life. So one of the main themes that I will ponder as I write is my own spiritual journey - where am I going? how will I get there? do I have a plan? do I have convictions? who is going with me? who are my friends? how will I allow them to influence my journey? how will I influence theirs?