Thursday, September 25, 2008

And they said it wouldn’t last (second edition)


In three more days, this blog will be one year old. And since at times it required me to work like a dog, I feel compelled to tell you that it will be seven years old in dog years. I don’t know what I was expecting, exactly, but the experience of blogging has been great. I now have cyberspace friends in Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, Oregon, France, and England. I have had conversations with Dr. Scot McKnight and Michael Spencer, the “internet monk,” on their blogs. Who woulda thunk? Mrs. Rhymeswithplague, reporting from another perspective, has asked me to tell you that she has become a blogger widow.

In my third post on September 30, 2007, long before I learned how to include photographs or link to other posts, I wrote this:

And they said it wouldn’t last

This blog is now in its third day and still going strong. Will it reach its third week, its third month, its third year? Nobody knows. I will say this about myself: I am by nature a procastinator. I tend to put things off, delay the inevitable, wait until the last minute. But this work style of mine always produced superior results in my particular workplace. Of course, it drove the bosses crazy. The pressure I created for myself all by myself seemed to give me just the right incentive to excel. Oh, and work fascinates me; I can sit and look at it for hours (I’m kidding, sort of). I retired from the daily grind seven years ago. My work was of the mental kind, not the physical kind, but I came home each day exhausted and the long commute didn't help. When I retired, I said to my wife, “I don’t want to see a sunrise or a rush hour for at least six months.” And pretty much, I didn’t. I tend to have high highs and low lows. I've learned to control, or at least deal with, mood swings to a certain extent, but at one time my life, internally at least, was a little like a roller coaster. Did I just describe manic-depressive, which these days people call bipolar? And some might even call me obsessive-compulsive. Like my old work buddy who used to rearrange things on my desk just to see how long it would take me to put things back in order, at just the right angle, in parallel lines. Really.

So I’m elated that the blog is in its third day. I said above that nobody knows how long it will last. That’s not true. God does. Jehovah God, Yahweh, YHWH, I am that I am, and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Yeshua Ha-Mashiach), and the Holy Spirit Who indwells me, the Paraclete, the One called alongside to help, the One who Jesus said is with you and shall be in you. The Triune God is from everlasting to everlasting and knows the end from the beginning; He knows exactly how long my blog will last.

So now some of you think I am a kook and some of you are quietly praising the Lord. And some of you not so quietly. I’ll try not to make the blog all about me, me, me, though. After all, He must increase, but I must decrease.

(End of September 30, 2007, post)

So here we are, almost a year later. On reflection, I can see that much of the blog has indeed been about me, me, me. I still need to realize that I must decrease and that He must increase. I have pointed you away from myself much of the time, true, but perhaps not in the right direction.

On that note, I have decided to point you to an absolutely wonderful post today by my Illinois friend, Ruth Hull Chatlien. To read it, click here. It definitely points all of us in the right direction.

And since half of my renewed goal is to make the post less about me, me, me, I am just going to let the anniversary date slip by without further mention.

9 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your upcoming blogiversary. That's quite an accomplishment.

    I remember you referred to this post once in an email to me. It's great to read the original.

    And thanks for the link and kind words.

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  2. Thank you, Ruth, my Illinois friend! And thank you, Andy, my English (not British) friend!

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  3. Congrats on your upcoming blogging milestone!!

    I'm truly suspicious that the majority of bloggers have had struggles with depression. So, what is it about blogging that is helpful? Its an outlet, a vent, for our thoughts, which otherwise would pile up and cause trouble.

    Tell Mrs. Rhymeswithplague that we're appreciative of her putting up with your hogging blobby.....I mean, blogging hobby!

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  4. Glad you are still posting even after a year. I find it a bit of therapy myself although I have never suffered with much depression.

    Happy years to come!

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  5. Thanks, Jeannelle, and thanks, Vonda, for your thoughts on this auspicious occasion. Jeannelle, you even inspired my 9/26/2008 post!

    I do need to clear up what may be a misconception I caused. I do indeed tend to have high highs and low lows and I did say my life was like a roller coaster and I also compared it to manic-depression and being bi-polar in my post. But as far as I know, I have never suffered from what is called "clinical depression" (unless that is what I'm describing). At least, I have never been diagnosed with it.

    Of course, I never went to a doctor with it, either, so it's a little difficult to receive a diagnosis when your dog is acting as your physician.

    Not that there would be anything wrong if I had been diagnosed with that.

    Well, okay, maybe there would have been something wrong, but at least I would have been getting medical help.

    As usual, I fear I am not making any sense. It must be time for my morning cup of hot, green tea (decaffeinated).

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  6. Ick.....I know green tea is healthy, but I can't stand it.

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  7. Bien qu'ayant quelques difficultés avec la traduction de votre message, il me semble comprendre que votre blog a un an. Alors bon anniversaire Bob et compliments pour votre détermination. Happy birthday bob !

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  8. Merci beaucoups, Papy, mon ami!

    For the benefit of any readers of these comments who do not read French, here is what Papy Biou said in the previous comment:

    Although having some difficulties with the translation of your message, it seems to me to understand that your blog is one year old. Then good birthday, Bob, and compliments for your determination.

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

We are bombarded daily by abbreviations in everyday life, abbreviations that are never explained, only assumed to be understood by everyone...