Deviation (from World Cup stuff)

This morning I thought that it would not be wise to do yet a third blog about World Cup soccer being played from June 9-July 9 in Germany. So, even as I am watching Australia and Italy play, and anticipating the Ghana-Brasil game tomorrow, I will not bore you with my sentiments....at least not today!

There's a couple of things I would like to address today. First, we saw our youngest daughter on Saturday. We were able to wrangle an hour of her time in a laundromat where she had come to wash off a week's worth of dirt and sweat! She is a counselor at a Christian camp in the North Carolina mountains this summer. Last summer she was also was at camp for five weeks, as a CIT (Counselor-in-Training). It was then that she realized that this was a ministry she wanted to do for God in her high school years (and perhaps also in her college years). Her very first week of being a counselor, she saw 4 of her campers come to know Christ. She called us that weekend to tell us about this and that she was really excited about what God was showing her.

If you are a parent and have ever had the privilege of knowing your children are hearing God talking personally to them.....you'll know that there are no words for it. I'm excited for Lauren and what God is showing her. She seemed very tired when we saw her Saturday, but that would be expected. As I sat down and watched her put the quarters in the washing machine herself and put her clothes in the machine herself -- I realized that she is growing up. She'll be 16 in a couple of weeks, and I'm proud of who she is and who she is becoming. Even though seven weeks is a long time to be without her, I am reminded once again that she is not really ours. Not first of all. She is God's first. If He has asked her to serve Him in this capacity this summer, then who am I to get in the way of God's plans? I am her mother, yes, but He is her Creator and Savior. How I'm proud of that girl!

Secondly, blogs. In the past couple of weeks, I have read much from bloggers writing about blogs, the intentions of blogs, the misuse of blogs, the addiction of blogging, and so on and so forth. It's disturbing to me, but on a far different level.

First of all, I realize that when I created my personal and ministry blogs that there was a part of me that truly thought people would care to know what I was thinking. That's pretty heady stuff and probably not as true as we would like to think. The intention of my ministry blog is to keep those interested updated in a more detailed way. Prayer letters must be somewhat concise and compact, and in a campus ministry such as we are involved, often many of the really good details must be forfeited. That was the intention of that particular blog.

As for this blog, I have honestly had to rethink why I am committed to it at all. I do not have a vendetta of some sort to air out here, I do not necessarily like to "stir up others" - as in the intention in many blogs that I have read, and I do not think it's necessary to give private, very personal details about myself. If others need to do that, then okay. For me, it's just to let others know the multi-layers that make up Me. The things that I find funny, disturbing, and amazing. As I am in the process of writing a book on our experiences as missionaries in West Africa for nearly 20 years, this blog gives me another avenue of creativity and "blowing out the cobwebs" - so to speak. Writers need motivation and exercise of their writing abilities. This is just a "workout" for me, so to speak.

The deeper issue I have with those who blog in lieu of developing personal, face-to-face relationships with others is this: it feeds the underlying problem of feeling isolated. While this may be a connection to the world in some strange way, that is certainly not how we are designed to interact on a day-to-day basis. We need people - and not just the words gleaned from a blogging comment section. Just a couple of days ago, I read an article that put definition to my concerns. While the article never addresses our advanced technology as a factor in the study that was sited, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it does figure greatly into the problem. Despite all the technology in the world and hundreds of ways to stay connected in some way, more and more of the world's population feels isolated and disconnected. The reason (in my opinion)? We replace those eye-to-eye, voice-to-voice relationships with static, distant cyber relationships. And, in the long run, they can never totally satisfy and complete us as a warm, caring face that we can see.

Anyway, this is just some simple thoughts I have on blogging. I think some people take this new, fandangled opportunity way too seriously and misalign the intentions of what a blog should really be. I don't believe it should be a place to antagonize, rant and rave (on a consistent basis), or feel that we now own a right to be a bonafide journalist, just because we press "publish post".
Though we can inform and educate about something important to us, blogging does not necessarily make us experts.

Enjoy blogging! Have fun with it! Let those who care about you already know a little more about your whims and wishes, likes and dislikes....but I don't think it should be a pulpit or podium, though it can always be a place for encouragement, friendly discussion, enlightening, and finding others who think in uninimity or not - with us!!

Enough deviation! Australia and Italy are still nil-nil at the 81st minute (which means there is only 9 more minutes in regulation play). Italy was favored to sweep this game, but, that's what makes soccer so exciting. Anything can happen in any given game! (Like Ghana, for instance!)



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200769,00.html