Well, I'm BACK, Baby Dolls!

Yes.

I enjoyed my BlogCation.

Yes.

I'll do it more often.

No.

I didn't work on a book.

No.

Creativity didn't spring forth.

I simply didn't blog for a couple of weeks. Mostly, I used the time to read or sleep later. But it was still a good idea even if it didn't necessarily do what I hoped it would do.

But, when thoughts crept in about returning on the 1st, well, I began to ask the question WHY? I mean, why do I do this?

First, I'm a writer. I write. It helps me organize thoughts on anything from how good a new CD is (Metallica's "Death Magnetic"--okay. Cold War Kids' "Loyalty to Loyalty"--great in spots, but inconsistent) to slippery slope arguments regarding theological belief systems (don't get me started) and stuff in-between. So, the discipline of sitting here with my little Blogger window open really is more about me than it is you.

I'm not sorry about that.

Second, it takes longer for me to journal. While there's a certain romance of using a Berol Black Beauty #2 pencil and a moleskin notebook sitting in a coffee shop somewhere, well, I type faster. As an added bonus, this is more legible. As another added bonus, the ability to edit (whether or not I actually do that) is more neat & clean.

Third, the idea of a journal has become an anomaly to me. I've kept journals off & on since right after my dad died. I secretly hope for a flood of some type, localized to the garage storage of my home (which, if about two inches or so would hit the rest of the house, we could get those laminate hardwood floors--the water damage of which I speak is self-serving on those two fronts of journal destruction and new flooring. I can't worry about AllStates' profit margin when it comes to my localized flood), that will eliminate them. It seems to me the beautiful privacy of that is precisely its downfall. They're out there in the open. Anyone could read them. No one does. There's sort of an understood "wait until they're dead" rule when it comes to journals.

This assumes a few things. Like the people around me will have time to read my years of prattle. Like the people around me will care about the normal most of my days bring. Like the stuff in those matter. They may have time. They may not. They may care. They may not. They may matter. They may not. My point is that I think journaling has a retrospective reality.

Finally, that retrospective reality isn't remotely beneficial here and now. See, I prefer the sense of community that this brings rather than the solitude of journaling. Sure, the public nature of blogging has some downsides, too. Like inconsistencies that happen as you're forming opinions (like on a political issue, where one day you're passionately opposed only to find out two months later you're passionately for--stuff like that). Or people realizing they're potential blog fodder when they see you. Or the danger of alienating readers or, worse, having them tell you that "they think like you think." Stuff like that.

But that sense of community is precisely what I like about it. Particularly in my line of work, see. I'm a pastor at a church. I believe the days when the pastor was considered a "cut above" the average churchgoer are done. People want their pastors to uphold the standards listed in 1 Timothy and Titus, to be sure. But they also want them to be real. To be known. To talk about when they blow it or what movie they saw or what wine they drank or how happy they are their team won or how annoyed they get with the car dealership or what book they loathed or their love of run-on sentences.

Hence, in a day-in, day-out forum, you'll see all of that. The ups. The downs. The in-betweens.

And, hopefully, you'll see God at work in my life in some sort of positive way.

And, hopefully, you'll know me better and won't have to wait until I'm dead to read about stuff and things.

And, hopefully, you'll comment in dissent and agreement. Then I can know you better, too. And won't have to wait until you're dead to read about stuff and things. And, thus, community happens. As I've said before, I like community in the various forms it shows up...whether in a group of folding chairs at soccer practice or showing up at the school open house night or church or hanging out at a lake house with family & friends or a concert in a park...whatever.

So, that's WHY I do it.

It simply made sense to think that through before I re-opened The Diner. And a LOT has happened in the two weeks I was away that should be talked about.

But, I can say this:

I like it here, and I'm glad to be back.