Talkity, talkity, talk

Thursday, October 04, 2007
Hello again, before I move on to other rabbit trails and loose my way back, I thought I should do just a bit more explaining about my blog.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN MY BLOG: In a way, my blog is actually my collection of what I am going to put on my website. It is the place where I record:
· my biblical observations,
· my thoughts from books and articles I’ve read,
· helpful sermons and information from other authors,
· anything else that might be useful in my future website project
Finally, it’s where I practice writing skills in the drafting of pages for my website. Right now, it’s intended mainly for my personal consumption, but I’m thrilled to share it with anyone else who might happen upon it and stick around to view it’s contents. If you do, I hope you’ll find it helpful, encouraging and that you are blessed by your visit.

HOW OFTEN WILL I POST? My intention to write at least one page a week (you should probably focus very heavily on the word “intention”, remembering that we as flawed human beings don’t always do what we intend to do – How does the maxim go? “The best laid plans of mice and men go amiss” or something like that). In order to work on expanding my writing skills, I’ve committed to a daily reading of several other, what I consider to be , “very choice” blogs, in order to stimulate my creative juices (JOKE!) with the hope that someday I might publish more frequently. To learn which blogs I visit, go to my “Blogs I Like” section.
Oh, something else I need to say to keep you from being sadly disillusioned, just in case you haven’t figured it out already, you soon will, I’m by no means a writer, I write by necessity only in order to remember things that I read. Earlier in life I did possess a small handful of writing skills, but after 60 years of life, raising two girls as nearly a single mom, and as I mentioned in my first article, having fibromyalgia as my daily companion for many years (which has stolen any creative and organizational cognitive skills) writing does not come easy.

Knowing all that, you ask, “If it is so difficult to write, why in the world would this crazy lady want to publish a blog?” Aside for being a glutton for punishment, (my husband tells me this all the time) this whole blog idea had its beginnings about 30 to 35 years ago when I decided to put together a book for my two girls, who, at that time, were fairly well grown and close to leaving home for college. Well, at least one was, the other was six years behind. I realized that once they were gone, my job as a parent/teacher, for the most part, was fairly well over. So I needed to find a way to still pass on what I had learned if at all possible. That’s where my book came in. It was intended to be a collection truths and information which I had hoped to teach them but had been unable to because the years where just too short. So I began my endeavor by accumulating notes from sermons I heard and books I read, quotes from Christian speakers, even articles from newspapers, recipes and household tips. Anything that would help them be successful and victorious in their lives, obedient children of God and bring glory to His name. I would simple pass it on to them as a gift. Sneaky but creative wouldn’t you say. In those days I had some artistic skills, having majored in art in college, and having learned a bit of calligraphy, so my original plan was to pen these books by hand and complete them with hand drawn artwork. But finding the time to work on them early on was difficult, the girls were quite active with outside activities, and I made a lot of their clothing and to top it off, as they were older, because of financial reasons, I finally had to go to work outside the home. With life being so hectic, I foolishly laid my book aside thinking there would be days later on when I would have more time to work on it. Thanks solely to God and a husband who loves the Lord and holds His word in high esteem, I have grown in knowledge and the understanding of the Lord’s ways since I first began my endeavor many years ago, consequently here I sit, three decades later, surrounded by filing cabinets filled with incredible amounts of material to record. Complicating the matter now, I also have a brain that is rusty and filled cake frosting, while I am still every bit as busy as I was then but I’m not nearly as quick or as proficient in completing my work.

Well, to finish my story, I finally made a determination that this task was far too important to not complete, and if I ever accomplished any goal in life, this was the goal. But to make it happen, I would have stay up an extra hour or two each night to work on it and even then it would progress slowly. And it would be a juggling act with fibromyalgia, for you see, sleep is critical to feeling well and not having flare-ups. So again completion will be up to God and my dear sweet husband, but great thanks to both of them, at least my project has begun.
But wait! I’m jumping ahead of myself again… How to begin such a large undertaking? That was an overwhelming thought you see, because by the time I had finally began to begin (sounds like a song doesn’t it? “Begin the Began” or “Began the Begin” – boy , I’m sure that dates me!) Anyway, by the time I finally began to begin, I realized I had amassed so much material, that I needed a computer to keep track of it all. When I finally got a computer in the late 90’s, I gave up the notion of penning anything by hand and decided do everything via electronic data processing. I slowly learned the computer skills I would need, first computer operation, then Microsoft Word, the Internet and other programs as well. After becoming familiar with the Internet and what others were doing, I began to think, “Why limit it to a book for my girls, why not put all this information on a website for anyone to read who might need help.” So, now comes more learning; first I learned the basics - website 101 and then I designed my site and registered it’s domain name. Now I am learning web page building skills with MS FrontPage. All the while I’m still writing and rewriting articles, and collecting, collecting, collecting. This has become my life’s goal, to leave behind sort of a legacy of biblical truths and knowledge that will benefit others. Well, that’s the story behind my blog. So just think, while you sit there reading from your home computer, wherever you live in the world, you are becoming just one more part of fulfilling my lifelong dream and goal.

Since I live in the country and with the price of gasoline currently so high, I usually don’t go into town except on Sundays and Wednesday evenings, it’s not often that I get the chance to evangelize or disciple other individuals and that saddens me. But, this is where the wonders of the electronic age come in, thanks to computers and Internet technology, all the world can now become my mission field through my blog (and later on, though my website). I count it as a privilege to have a blog for the Lord, one which I never want to take lightly - for the bible says that we will be judged by the words that we speak (Matthew 12:36,37) and it also says that “…teachers shall receive the greater judgment…” (James 3:1). Those scripture passage remind me of a quote by the Puritan author John Owen (from his book The Mortification of Sin: A Puritan’s View of How to Deal with Sin in Your Life, which I am currently reading). It was first told by David Clarkson, Owen’s former junior colleague, who quoted Owen while preaching at his funeral, and then later by J.I. Packer who told the story in the preface of Owen’s book. That ‘a man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul…. I hold myself bound in conscience and in honour, not even to imagine that I have attained a proper knowledge of any one article of truth, much less to publish it, unless thorough the Holy Spirit I have had such a taste of it, in its spiritual sense, that I may be able from the heart, to say with the psalmist, “I have believed, and therefore have I spoken”.’

Teaching is a serious matter and so I want to make sure as much as I possibly can, that what ever I say is correct. But I must first live it in my own life. I’m a hypocrite if I don’t. No one can live it perfectly, that’s true. But I must make every effort to try to live out what I say. The exact same principle I held when I taught my children years ago. The saying, “Do as I say, not what I do,” was not acceptable if I was to reinforce the reality of living for Christ in their hearts. I often think that children learn more from what is caught, than taught. It’s amazing how many little sayings and quirks I have which come from my parents. They weren’t taught as such, they were caught. And there are many things I see in my children today as adults, both good and bad, that remind me of myself, things that were never taught, but were certainly caught. So I want to make sure my words are true, that they point to Christ, they are filled with grace and are edifying, they glorify God and they not just idle talk (talkity talk) but they backed up with my actions.