Confessions of a Blogger

I have been blogging since September 2007. By no means does 33 months of blogging qualify me as a blogging expert. I do not have this whole blogging thing figured out. However, in the past 33 months I have learned a thing or two about blogging and myself in the process.

I get asked from time-to-time for blogging tips from prospecting bloggers. So without further adieu, here are the things that I have learned about blogging and myself in what I call…Confessions of a Blogger.

My #1 blogging rule: Don’t take yourself too seriously. I’m not that special or important. I am not entitled anything from anybody because I have a blog.

A big temptation with blogging and all social networking media is narcissism. Fight being narcissistic in blogging.

Blogging is a discipline for me just like eating healthy, working out, Bible study, and prayer.

Blogging is very therapeutic for me.

I’m much better with a computer and Internet than paper and pen. Blogging is basically a journal with accountability. I was always terrible at writing in a journal. I tried many times but never was consistent. Blogging changed that.

In 2o months, there have been over 89,300 total views, 105 comments, and 198 posts. I have no clue if that is good or not.

My busiest day on the blog was Friday, August 15, 2008 with 666 views. This bothers me greatly and I would really like this number to change.

I know blogging is very 2005 and already outdated, but I like it much better than
other social networking websites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.

I use other social networking websites (like Facebook and Twitter) to funnel more people to my blog. I direct people from both websites at strategic times of the day – morning, before lunch, after lunch, late afternoon, and night.

I view blogging as part of my ministry.
You need to write consistently to have a more successful blog.
Post lots of pictures on your blog to get more views. (Google Images will find them on searches.)

Deep down, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE getting blog comments. They bring me joy and motivation to keep writing…seriously.

I write about a number of different subjects. I don’t ever want my writing to be predictable.

I am amazed at all the random strangers that stumble onto my blog. In those moments, it becomes even more clear to me that blogging is part of my ministry.

If YOURNAME.com is available, I recommend purchasing the domain name. It is affordable (especially through WordPress). It feels a little weird, but you never know if you will need it in the future. Don’t let someone grab it first.

While I love getting blog comments, I hate getting spam comments.

I could go on and on. However, I want you to share your confessions. I’m sure I’ll add some more of my confessions to the comment section as I think of them.

Comments? Questions? Confessions?

game on... devil

saturday night I broke my leg... last night was dealing with some serious spiritual warfare... but I keep waking up and saying "Today, devil, your request has been denied." this will not keep me down, this will not slow me down, Jesus is my answer to all that is going on and I will overcome. this will make me stronger, this will make me spiritually stronger. I will not let up off of kicking the devil back to hell, I will be prayed up, read up, and rested up for his next attack, if hes dumb enough to try something again. Jesus' blood covers me, my house and all that I have... If he wants to break my spirit hes gonna have to try alot harder than to break a bone in my leg... game on devil, and I will be victorious! woo

again I repeat...

I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. the decision has been made. I'm a disciple of his and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.

My past has been redeemed. My present make sense. My future is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patients, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.

My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. my road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.

I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversity. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for his own, He’ll have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear!

Ernie Harwell 1918-2010

Longtime Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell passed away yesterday. Harwell revealed in September that he had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer of the bile duct. He was 92 years old.

In what can only be described as “news of the weird” or “only in baseball”, Harwell was once acquired by the Brooklyn Dodgers for a catcher in 1948.

On August 2, 1981, Ernie Harwell was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Here is this legendary announcer’s description of the game that he loved and covered for 55 years…

Baseball is the President tossing out the first ball of the season and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That’s baseball. And so is the big, fat guy with a bulbous nose running home one of his (Babe Ruth’s) 714 home runs.

There’s a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh forty-six years ago. That’s baseball. So is the scout reporting that a sixteen year old pitcher in Cheyenne is a coming Walter Johnson. Baseball is a spirited race of man against man, reflex against reflex. A game of inches. Every skill is measured. Every heroic, every failing is seen and cheered, or booed. And then becomes a statistic.

In baseball democracy shines its clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rulebook. Color merely something to distinguish one team’s uniform from another.

Baseball is a rookie. His experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream. It’s a veteran too, a tired old man of thirty-five hoping that those aching muscles can pull him through another sweltering August and September. Nicknames are baseball, names like Zeke and Pie and Kiki and Home Run and Cracker and Dizzy and Dazzy.

Baseball is the cool, clear eyes of Rogers Hornsby. The flashing spikes of Ty Cobb, an over aged pixie named Rabbit Maranville.

Baseball just a came as simple as a ball and bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion.

Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World’s Series catch. And then dashing off to play stick ball in the street with his teenage pals. That’s baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying., “I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”

Baseball is cigar smoke, hot roasted peanuts, The Sporting News, ladies day, “Down in Front”, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and the Star Spangled Banner.

Baseball is a tongue tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown. This is a game for America. Still a game for America, this baseball! Thank you.

I am a big Los Angeles Dodgers fan. But I am a bigger fan of the game of baseball. And the game of baseball lost a great personality and a great man. My thoughts and prayers goes out to the entire Harwell family.

After hearing the cancer diagnosis, Harwell told The Associated Press on September 4, 2009, “Whatever happens, I’m ready to face it. I have a great faith in God and Jesus.”

I can’t wait to meet Ernie Harwell and talk baseball in Heaven.

10 reasons the Dodgers will still win the NL West...

10. Manny wont be hrut forever, he will be back and the offense will get better.
9. Familiar faces returned to the bullpen, Belisario and Kuo have returned and have stabilized the shaky bullpen.
8. Ned will make a trade and get the team better.
7. The giants starting pitching cannot keep up there torrid pace, zito 4-0? wont last, also the offense wont keep producing like they have been.
6. The padres will not be a first place team throughout the season, adrian gonzales will be traded and San Diego will fall into last place.
5. Arizona is to young, to many strike out hitters and with no Webb this team is vulnerable.
4. The Rockies pitching isnt as good as everyone says, no frances, no Dela Rosa no closer. The offense isnt what it was last year.
3. with the slow start and the owners divorce, noone expected the dodgers to be able to compete, there is no pressure on them.
2.The young guns, Andre Ethier is having and MVP type of start, Kemp is doing his thing, Martin seems to be back to his old all star self, Billingsley seems to be turning it on lately, Kershaw is only 22 and a great pitcher, Broxton hasnt allowed a run to score all season. put that together and its trouble for the NL west
1. The dodgers have experience, 2 time defending west champs, 2 straight trips to the NLCS. The giants, Padres, D-backs and Rockies dont have that.

there you have it, I believe the dodgers will win the west by 5 games this year. agree? disagree? share your thoughts.

That Dreaded Question...

I love what I do for a living. There is no doubt in my mind that I am internally wired by God to be a minister. Most importantly, God has called me to be a minister and has equipped me by giving me gifts to be a minister. I very rarely have those “I don’t want to wake up and go to my job” mornings. I truly do love my job (my calling).

However, I have come to dread telling people – especially strangers – what I do for a living. I avoid giving out that information at all cost. And I cringe when I get asked the dreaded question – what do you do for a living?

Now, here me out before you assume that I am ashamed of my profession or, even worse, my God. NO WAY!

I only say that I avoid the dreaded question, because people often change how they act or how they treat me because I work for a church. The perfect way to describe what often happens is that a big, thick wall gets put up. Before that information leaked, I was just a nice guy who wanted to have a good conversation. After that information leaked, I turn into a minister that has an agenda.

Tonight I can think of two places where the walls from the dreaded question seem to be thrown up the most.

The first place is THE GYM. One of the advantages of living in a small town is that most people know you and know what you do. One of the disadvantages of a living in a small town is that most people know you and know what you do. I have noticed that I tend to hang out with a lot of “church people”. One thing about the gym that I like is that I am hanging out with people who are not necessarily “church people”. People are pretty real in the gym. Maybe it is all the testosterone, the sweat, or the often hideous workout clothes that helps get people real. People are often raw in the gym. The filters tend to come down and people are more authentic. I have had some very unusual conversations in the gym that I probably would not have with a church member directly after Sunday service. However, you should see how quickly people change how they treat me and what they say when they get the knowledge that I am a minister.

The second place I see this happen is on TRAINES. You know…the dreaded sitting by someone you do not know train ride? You either get one of two types of people: the talker or the ignore-at-any-cost person. If I get a talker beside me, I try my hardest to not bring up my occupation as long as I can so I can get the unfiltered, real person before they switch to “I’m sitting beside a pastor so I better behave” mode.

Let me talk to ministers, pastors, clergy, wives of ministers, elders, etc first. There is no doubt in my mind that you understand what I am saying. Hang in there. Keep connecting with people and sharing the good news of the Gospel with people. And when your occupation or title in the church gets in the way of that, keep loving, connecting, and sharing anyway.

Now to the people who are not ministers – please do not change how you act when you are around ministers. We are looking for people who are authentic – even if that authenticity does not look holy or “churchy”. Ministers do not have some special connection with God that you cannot possess, nor do they have Jedi-like powers that can stare into the deepest, darkest corners of your soul. We mess up too. We have fights with our spouses too. We say things we should not say when we stub our toe too. We just love God with all our hearts and get our paychecks from a church.