Here & Now

With this being only my second entry for this page, I am pretty sure that I would still be considered a "rookie" in the blogging world. I'm still getting my digital feet wet, as some would probably say. I know people who have been blogging for years. They were blogging before what they were doing was called blogging. They are veterans - saving the world with one opinion at a time. I guess I am saying all this because the idea of a blog still strikes me as a little funny.

Why do so many people blog?
Why do we all expect other people to find what we say amusing or enlightening?

These are a few questions that seem to constantly pop into my head. (And yes, I realize that it is ironic that I am blogging about my questions concerning blogs). But as I sat in my apartment today thinking about these questions, the world of bloggers, and my new cybernated hobby, a very specific truth popped to mind that I believe is at the center of the blogging phenomenon: within each and every one of us there is a deep and intrinsic need to know and to be known.

I know there are bloggers out there that may disagree with me if they ever came across what I am writing now. They may believe that their words have a deeper worth, and that the world is a better place because of their post...and this may be true for some bloggers I guess. I am not really en expert. Like I said earlier, I'm still a rookie.

But I think for a good chunk of us out there, whether we recognize it or not, this truth is at the heart of the blogging world. And this is true not just for the blogging society, but everyone. We just want to be known. We want to be seen. We want to be wanted. And most importantly, we want to be loved. We were made for this: to live in a community of friends and family who we can cry or laugh with. A group of people who we know will be there to help pick us back up when we fall. There is something inside of us that draws us to each other - something that brings people together.

And for some reason we have turned to the computer to fulfill this need. Why?

Because it's hip and trendy?
Because we can do it at our own convenience?
Because it's safer than telling someone our opinions face to face?

Now hear me out before you assume that I am writing a blog about the evils of blogging. I think a blog is a great way to communicate and can be a creative and healthy outlet. My concern is that, thanks to blogs, Twitter, and other social networking sites, we are forgetting to be truly present to those around us.

Being a youth minister I spend a good amount of my time with teenagers and I would not be exaggerating if I said that teens are on their cell phones hours on end - just texting away. Now, I am guilty of this too. I blog, text and tweet like many of the teens who I work with so I know how easy it is to forget about the people at the dinner table with you when you hear your cell phone going off in the next room. So I guess the question that I am finally starting to get at is, if we are so saturated with blogs, tweets and whatever else, how can we ever be present to those who are present with us now? And more importantly, how can we be present to a God who is at the door of our hearts, knocking, waiting to be let in (Rev. 3:20)?

For the few of you who come across this blog....go find someone. Have a real conversation. Tell them about your day. Laugh with them. Let them know you appreciate them in your life. And then, go pray. You have a God who is waiting to hear from you. Who also wants to hear about your day. Who is ready to tell you that you are seen, wanted and loved.

In Genesis 2:18 God says, "it is not good that a man should be alone". And while writing this I am getting the sensation that I am communicating with the whole world when in reality I am actually sitting in an empty apartment, at my desk, waiting for my wife to come home from work. So for those of you who blog, keep blogging. And those who use Twitter, tweet away. But don't forget to take the time to look away from the screen long enough to see what is really going on around you.

What am I doing?

My first blog entry..... I never thought this day would come. You see, a year ago I promised myself I wouldn't follow the crowd into the blogging world. My fear was that a personal blog for me would be taking another step towards becoming a full-fledged narcissist; a blog, this blog, would become another avenue in which I would start to think I am bigger and more important than I really am.

That was a year ago. Now, I'm a little older and hopefully a little wiser too. Hopefully. I'm starting this blog for a couple different reasons. The first is because I think I am supposed to. It's been on my heart for a while to start blogging but I never could get myself to make the move. I don't know if it was laziness or a fear that I would be considered a "crappy blogger", but for some reason I feel like it is time to finally take the plunge. The second reason is that I will have an outlet for some of my thoughts. Working as a youth minister means that my life consists of constant chaos. Maybe this blog will give me a chance to clear some space in head and help me think more clearly. Who knows?

And what are my hopes and goals for this blog? To become well known? No. To write inspiring and deep words that touch the hearts of everyone who comes across it? Na.

Let me say that there is nothing that I can or will say in this blog that hasn't been said before, or that someone else couldn't articulate more eloquently. But I will speak (write?) Truth. A Truth that was passed on throughout the centuries and was taught to me. A Truth that brings light into our dark and confusing world. A Truth that can cut through the hurt and pain in our lives and make us whole again. A Truth that brings us to God. Jesus. That is what this blog is for. And Jesus is who this blog is about.