A Year Without Blogging

Friends that are closer to me know of the joy I get from blogging. Over the years since launching my first blog in the mid-2000s, I have written hundreds of blogs of varying quality on a number of topics. Some of them were painfully bad while occasionally I have actually written something I continue to be proud of many years later. Since my last post here a year ago, I’ve written nothing apart from completing the work on my dissertation which is now published.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been anything on which to opine. Hardly! Between geopolitical happenings to economic developments to denominational drama and many other areas of life I could point to, there is certainly no shortage of things to write about, particularly from a Christian worldview. So when a reader that has been with me for many years now—over a decade to the best of my recollection—sent me a note asking what happened and when I would start posting again, it got my mind going. Those are a couple of good questions!

What Happened?

When dad passed away on September 17, 2020, much of life continued on as it had for many years while a lot changed inside. I’d only written six posts for my site during the first year after he died, noting that each had come more slowly than the last. To be honest, I hadn’t given it much thought until recently. When I did, it hit me: many of our best conversations over the last couple of decades had centered around something I had written and shared online.

He read those posts…thought about those posts…and sometimes wanted to talk about those posts! Another facet of our relationship became apparent: he was a faithful critic of my writing and it made me better (I hope) at articulating my thoughts. Sometimes dad would ask me what in the world I was thinking. Other times he’d ask if I had considered something from another perspective (I usually hadn’t). Often, he’d argue against my point of view on this or that with neither of us—typically—changing the mind of the other but always retaining the ability to agree to disagree. Still, sometimes he lets me know I’ve given him something more to think about. Always, we ended those chats, telling one another “I love you” before ending a call.

It’s Time to Start Writing Again

The other question is more closely related to the first than I’d thought at first. When will I start posting again indeed! I suppose the answer to that depends on why I stopped and what’s changed. I stopped because I just haven’t had a desire to share my thoughts. Is anyone still interested? Were they ever? The answer to both is “yes.” It is also true that those deep conversations dad and I used to have won’t happen anymore and it’s time for that to be okay (there…I finally said it “out loud” and didn’t delete it from this post).

So I guess it’s time to start writing blog posts again. Some—perhaps most—will be quickly forgotten while a few others will be pretty good. I’m reminded of a time I told dad years ago when he asked me why I “bothered” with a website and sharing things that will mostly be forgotten. I told him I did it for two reasons. First, everyone needs an outlet! His was diving into a new woodworking project and figuring out how to make something beautiful (he was quite the craftsman!).

Second, I do it to start conversations with people I know (and some I don’t know yet!) and add my voice to the conversations taking place concerning the issues of our day. Conversations like the ones he and I used to enjoy where sometimes we wrestled with ideas themselves, or we wrestled with our differing views, or we wrestled with how best to understand things that at times seemed to have escaped us. There are serious things happening in the world, in our nation, in our own communities and Christians should think through them. There’s a lot going on in my own life as well (with two kids in college, how could there not be, right?) and there are still a few folks I know that shun social media in all its forms.

With that, I’m glad to drop this post and at least in my mind return to blogging. I’ve no idea how frequently I will post though I am decidedly better at this than I am at journaling. In the coming days, I will get something of a family update written and posted. Our son is in the final semester of his undergraduate program and has his eyes on the future. Our daughter has started her education program and has her first school placement. My wife is glad I’m reasonably convinced that my time as a degree-seeking student has come to an end.

See…there’s a lot happening just in those few sentences!