Blog Anniversary

So today is the anniversary of my blog. I started blogging, for the very first time, on 1st November 2006. I'm not quite sure why I started blogging, but it seems that I had no shortage of things on my mind to blog about.

Over this past weekend, I scrolled through the hundreds of blogs that I've posted. To be honest, I was quite intrigued by the topics of these blogs. I wonder if there is any topic that I haven't blogged about. Could it be that I am nearly finished? Or are there more topics which I can wrestle with?

Wrestle is the correct word to use when it comes to my blogs. The overwhelming theme that I see in what I've blogged is the wrestling that I've done with particular topics. Usually I was seeking God's truth, trying to understand what it is that I didn't understand.

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Somewhere along the line, I'd learned that I'm not always right. In fact, I think I've blogged about my own ignorance, which is vast and amazing. But being aware of one's ignorance means that one must then exert the effort to gain understanding, find God's truth, and acquire perspective. To be honest with you, it was a lot easier when I was a know-it-all.

But I've learned that there's a reason why God tells us not to lean on our own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5-6) You see, our own understanding - or at least my own understanding - is incomplete, at best. At worst it could be seriously flawed. Sometimes it's both! So I'm a pretty intelligent fellow. I'm well read, well educated and like to stay on top of world affairs. But here I am with human understanding that is both incomplete and flawed.

I feel as if I'm at some sort of turning point with this blog. I wonder if I can keep blogging and satisfy my readers. Do I really have anything more to say? Does God really want to use me to say anything? (Now that would be a good reason to keep blogging!) But I think as it is I will make no promises.

I didn't know where I was going or how I'd get there when I opened this blog exactly four (4) years ago today. Ironically, I'm in exactly the same spot today. I have no idea where I'm going with this or how I'm going to get there!

If God has more work to do in me and if my transparency can be posted on this blog for others to learn from, then that'll be quite alright. Or if God is ready for me to be quiet, I think that would be quite alright as well.

Only time will tell, so we shall see. But for now, happy 4th anniversary to my blog and its readers!

Twitter

So the other day I blogged about so-called "social networks." I have to say that my experience with Twitter isn't really getting any better. I continue to be baffled by the mystery of a value proposition here.

There are people "following" thousands of other people. There are people who have thousands of people "following" them. I suppose if you're a celebrity trying to build your brand, having thousands "follow" you on Twitter is an admirable goal. But what's in it for those who would purport to "follow" you?

What is most intriguing to me are the people who are starting to show up as my "followers" on Twitter. Most of them I don't even know. Why would they want to "follow" me? Why would they care what I'm doing or what I have to say? Perhaps they just want to market to me, get me in their multi-level marketing scheme? (A couple have tried.)

I had to ban a couple people from "following" me on Twitter this past week. One I looked at and he just posted profanity all the time. I concluded that I don't want to know someone like that. The other was a self-professed porn star --- who invited people to go watch her "triple x" movie clips. I definitely didn't want to know her!

Do we ever consider the social equivalents of these social networks? Isn't it a bit like going out into the street and letting a vulgar, repulsive man claim you as a friend? Or isn't it a bit like heading into the red light district and letting a hooker claim you as a friend? Mind you, I'm not opposed to befriending such people. But I don't think I would do it indiscriminately. Discretion would definitely be applied before I would engage with someone - or be publicly associated with them in any way. Yet in the on-line world, we seem not to care. Whatever. Whoever. I find that amazing.

Perhaps the more perplexing aspect of Twitter is the character limitations. One can barely get a couple of sentences in there before you run out of allowable character usage. So you are guaranteed one thing on Twitter - whatever anyone says, it won't be much! Seriously, you'll have to be a man or woman of few words if you're going to communicate on Twitter. Or you'll be posting multiple tweets per day. (Pastor Rick Warren does that.) Is that really effective communication? Wouldn't a blog make more sense?

I try to be open minded about these things. I try to embrace the newest ways and latest thinking. But I have to confess that Twitter is challenging me more than most things. I keep scratching my head, expecting a light bulb to go off when I finally "get it!"