Do you like reading blog posts?
Come to think of it, that is probably a stupid question, given that you are reading this one right now.
I enjoy reading a variety of different blogs.
According to an article on the website webdesignerdepot.com, the first “blog” was written by a Swarthmore College student named Justin Hall in 1994. Justin, however, did not call his creation a blog. He just referred to it as a “personal home page.”
The phrase “weblog” was not coined until 1997 and it took two more years until weblog was shortened to the word blog.
I suppose one of the things I love about blogs is their rampant democracy. It comes down to just me and the person expressing himself or herself through this medium. There is no gatekeeper between us. Yes, sometimes that means the product is a little rough and unedited. Sometimes it fails to connect or communicate effectively. But when I stop and think about it, that is sort of the way most of my face-to-face interactions work, too.
Honest, unedited, and raw.
I also really love the breadth of subject matter and perspective I find in blogs. According to one site, there are over 600 million blogs in the world today, regularly posting the thoughts of some 31 million bloggers from virtually every nation in the world.
That is a lot of “grist for the mill,” as they say.
I am trying to do my part to add a hint of personal color to this amazing tapestry, but I am an absolute slacker compared to some of the amazing people I follow. Just in case you are looking for new inspired blog content to add to your life, let me make a couple of recommendations to you.
In this first category are a couple of the DAILY bloggers I follow. Honestly, I have no idea how they pull this off. Back when I still had a full-time job, sweating out a blog post once a week felt like a Herculean effort. And yet somehow, these folks produce something fresh, interesting, and thought-provoking EVERY SINGLE DAY!
Mitch Teemley writes a blog called The Power of Story, which you can find here. Mitch is a funny guy and also a deep person of faith. He is a novelist, a screenwriter, a former stand-up comedian, and a humble seeker. I can always count on Mitch to push me to think more deeply and laugh more heartily than just about anyone I know.
Stephen Black is another favorite of mine. His blog is titled Fractured Faith and he regularly offers one of the most vulnerable, thought-provoking testimonies to life’s challenges that you will ever read. Stephen lives, works, and writes in Northern Ireland. Besides cranking out daily, high-quality blog insights, he works at a full-time job, is married, has three teenage children, and has just published his second, full-length novel. Somehow I assume he also eats and sleeps, but honestly, I have no idea how.
Chandra Lynn offers another daily blog called Pics and Posts. It offers a wide range of material and viewpoints, but can always be counted on to make you think a little more deeply and feel a little more honestly. Two of her on-going features are her Wordless Wednesdays and her Tree Love Thursday posts.
Again… I have all the love and respect in the world for people like this who have the passion and self-discipline to make a daily practice of their writing craft. Check them out and see if you don’t agree. You will always find a little “Follow” button somewhere on the right-hand side of the page if you want to make them a regular addition to your reading list.
There are a lot of other bloggers I follow. Some only post original poetry. Really good original poetry. Some post reports on their running, biking, or beekeeping activities. One person I follow compiles a long string of memes and threads them together with a humorous narrative.
Mitch (a different Mitch) is a pastor buddy of mine who writes a weekly devotion blog called – of all things – Weekly Devotion. It is really, really well written and always contains a clever twist at the end.
Sometimes it is hard to keep up on all the blogs I follow and I always feel guilty when I lag behind. No matter how fastidious I am about reading, I love the idea of being part of a world-wide network of people who – without any thought of becoming rich or famous – commit to pouring out their hearts and souls to fellow travelers on the way.
Would this ice cream taste as sweet if I did not anticipate the bottom of the carton?
“To know me…” my friend Rick used to say, always with a sly smirk, “… is to love me.”
A local remodeling contractor came over to our house on Saturday. My sweet, visionary wife has this notion of flipping the locations of our current kitchen and dining room so that each of them would end up in the space formerly occupied by the other one.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
I’ve been an acrobat.
As a new resident of the area, I did not know this was a thing, but apparently, if you put your stamped, sealed Valentine’s Day card in this box, it will be re-mailed (and postmarked) from nearby Loveland, Colorado.
“Is this mine to do?”
Russellings of the Spirit 