Category Archives: Blogging

On Blogging and Life and Such

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It’s been a long time since I’ve written. I didn’t think I would miss it, but I do. When I stopped writing I thought “I’m tired of writing for everyone else; I’ll just write in a journal, just for me.” My assumption was that my blog was for a public audience (it was) and that its only purpose was for that audience. I now realize that it wasn’t.

I love writing. There, I’ve said it. I never really admitted it because I never thought I was any good at it. Now that I think about it, it was the reason I started blogging back in 2003.

What I love more than writing is storytelling. Who doesn’t love a good story? I have, on several occasions, chosen the road less traveled not with the hope of improving myself but simply because it would make for a great story. I’m not against character building; I just want to be able to say, “let me tell you about the time…”

Have I ever told you about the time I was on the radio in Belize with the ad hoc ‘band’ GCDC?

What about the time I got stuck for three very, very cold days in Kyrgyzstan?

Ask me about where I was when: The Towers fell, we lost Columbia, we got Bin Laden…

Remind me to tell you about the questionable Sushi/Coffee House I used to frequent in Denton.

Have I ever told you about the exact moment that God whispered to me “I love you“?

I’ve got a lot more stories to tell. Not just to entertain you, but to remind me of what an amazing life I have. It’s not so much the ‘doing‘ but rather the ‘being‘ that is pretty cool. I’m just as happy that I’ve cooked dinner and done laundry at home (my hobbies have certainly changed over the past ten years) than that I’ve traveled around the world. Don’t get me wrong, one is definitely more exciting than the others, but at the end of the day I’m just as glad that I’ve done them.

obligatory birthday post

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So, on my birthday I’m suppose to write something about life and growing older, and I tried to come up with something but I’ve got nothing. So instead, here is a hymn that I can’t get out of my head (and why would I want to??). I love the whole song, but I am especially loving this line at the moment: “We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.” I grew up singing this song in church, but it was only recently that I began to really appreciate what I have been singing; There is a lot of truth packed into just 4 verses — read them slowly, sing them out loud; enjoy!

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Martin Luther.

1. A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing;
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

2. Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabbaoth, His name,
from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

3. And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

4. That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him Who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

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I was reading my journal today and I found this statement on the front page interesting.  (It’s not vain to quote yourself, is it?)

“There is something freeing that happens when the ink rolls across the page.  The pages that follow will be landmarks and benchmarks; Not of epic events, but of the mundane; the everyday.  They will show my progress…”

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t write in my journal (or blog) daily.  If the pages of my journal are benchmarks, what do all of the blank pages mean?  What progress was made between the dates of August 13 and December 31 of 2008?

At first I thought it meant I was lazy and while that’s true, I think the real problem is that I love the idea of tomorrow more than today.  I’m a dreamer.  Tomorrow has unlimited potential while today is boring and filled with tasks and chores.  I like the concept of journaling–having an outlet for reflection and a means of seeing growth in incremental steps–more than I like actually writing in a journal.  Just the thought of reading old journal entries gets me excited, but I often fail to make the connection that I’ll actually have to WRITE SOMETHING TODAY to have something to look back on tomorrow.

The same can be said for my blog.  In my head, every entry will be of great significance causing dozens of people (I’m still grounded in reality) to engage in thought and dialogue both online and offline.  I begin to compose said entries in my head, complete with witty titles, but they seldom make it to the screen.

“Talk does not cook rice” says the Chinese proverb and my intentions don’t put words on paper or blog entries online.  I have an “action” problem, but I think I’m getting better at it.  I guess we’ll find out over the next few days and weeks.

Speaking of the next few days, I’m leaving for Peoria, Illinois tomorrow morning with the cross-country team for Nationals.  This trip will be all sorts of fun;  I’ll post pictures and write about it, I promise!

Follow Your Heart

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I started doing more of this recently — literally.  I wear a heart rate monitor when I run, but until this week I’ve never based my runs on how hard my heart was working and I’ve been missing out.  For me, it was all about how many miles I was (or wasn’t) running and wanting to run each run faster than the last.  This worked out great initially, but then running became a chore and I began to dread the thought of running 3, 6, 8 miles…  Just visualizing the same boring routes that I run was enough to make me think “I can run tomorrow”.   I’ve run more miles this week because I stopped focusing on how many miles I was running,  And they’ve been crazy good runs!  I don’t even map out my runs before hand, I am free to just go run, which is kind of the point of running — freedom.

Maybe I should take this approach with blogging…

EDIT:  I changed the title from “Listen to your Heart” to “Follow your Heart” because I’m wasn’t actually LISTENING to my heart, but taking my cues from it via a HR monitor. :-)