My first blog post... ever


Could I just begin by saying I have resisted blogging or tweeting for years?  I just haven't had the urge to solicit an online audience or a horde of followers.  Feels like I'm trying to be a messiah or a rabbi or something.  And I honestly wonder if I have anything worthwhile to say en masse.  If I actually get a thought worth sharing, can't I at least make the effort to speak it to your face?  Remember that old saying about why God gave us two ears but just one mouth?  Well, I figure He also gave us two eyes and just one keyboard...

I know that sounds hypocritical as I sit here blogging.  And I know it sounds disparaging to all you bloggers & tweeters out there- please don't take offense.  I love and admire the blogs I occasionally read but I drown daily in "information clutter".  I'm doing well just to read the urgent work emails that keep me employed!  I only FaceBook about once a month (boy, does that get people mad at you) and if I've been to anybody's blog more than twice, it's one for the record books.

Maybe I'm ADHD or maybe I just think too hard (I've been accused of both).  Anyway, for me, this whole realm smacks of narcissism so I tread cautiously and remain humbly appreciative that you would spend some of your precious time here.  And my resolution going forward is to read more than I write!

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 17, 2020 at 3:15 PM

    You are a deep, perceptive man, as well as an exceptionally talented writer. I’m very happy for the opportunity to read your blog.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post-election musings (non-political) by Neel Woods

Image
2020 is a year that we will tell our grandkids about just like earlier generations would recall the Kennedy assassination or 9/11. Twenty years from now, how will you remember 2020?  With the presidential outcome still in limbo and everyone experiencing emotional fatigue from COVID and the election, not to mention more tangible burdens like critical family illnesses, job losses, racial injustice, and even toilet paper shortages, I'm trying to think a little outside the box.  John  Piper preached a memorable sermon in Feb, '09 called What is the Recession For? that reflected on the financial meltdown of '08. In it, he cited five different ways that God was using this hardship to His purposes.  One of those ways I can't forget is that God was using the crisis to expose sin, whether personal, national, societal, or otherwise. It seems that in this election season more than ever before, we are apt to vilify those who are supporting the other candidate. Lying, soc...
Read more

I Wish I'd Said That! (Quotes)

Image
I Wish I'd Said That! Many years ago, I began collecting a list of quotes that I would come across either in my reading, sitting in church, listening to the radio, etc. I often go back and reread these to see if any of them hit me differently since I first heard them.  In hopes that one of them will strike you like they did me, I plan to post one every week or so. Let me know if any of them strike a nerve. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The difference between wishing and hoping: A wish is a want thrown into the wind, but a hope is a desire rooted firmly in the promises of God. So this Christmas I do not wish upon shooting stars , but rather I hope in the Maker of the stars . I do not cast my lucky pennies in a wishing well , but I come and drink from His eternal well . I do not cross my fingers and wish for the best . Instead, I put my hope in the One who bore the cross with my sins on his chest ....
Read more

Jazzing it up in Cuba

Image
I've been on plenty of mission trips going all the way back to jr high days, and I reached a point where I felt that sending my dollars to people already on the ground was more impactful than jumping on a plane.  This opportunity was different, though. Global Missions Project uses musical performances as a means to bring the Gospel to foreign people groups. I went with a 20-piece big band to a communist country that is typically closed to Christianity.  However, a Havana pastor named Alioth Gonzales (pictured with me below, left) has some key contacts within the Cuban government and he was able to get our group into the country on a cultural exchange visa rather than the typical religious visa. This gave us access to all venues including musical student conservatories and public performance theaters. Alioth also happens to have developed a close relationship with a Cuban concert pianist named Frank Fernandez who is known and loved throughout Cuba AND Russia. He turned 80 at th...
Read more