Tag Archives: writing

One Year Reflection

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Marmot Lake in Washington Cascade Mountains

One year ago today I started this blog. I wanted a platform by which to communicate some of my passion to trust, live and serve as a follower of Jesus Christ. As a newly called pastor at Resurrection Lutheran Church, I wanted a way to communicate with the congregation and beyond. In my first blog, I wrote about having three foci: the physical, mental, and spiritual components of faith. I also thought that I would be posting three times per week.

It turns out that I have posted an average of 4.5 times per week and my favorite topic has been reflections on scriptures. I like to think this blog as a supplement to my sermons on Sunday, helping prepare people for Sunday worship or giving additional insight afterward (“nuggets” that I could not work into my Sunday sermon).

Also I have done a variety of life posts. One of my most “visited” posts was last April when I wrote about my son’s engagement. I have reflected several times regarding my journey with my aging mother. And whenever I can write about the beauty of wilderness I rejoice.

I have not written as much about running as I first thought, probably because I have been struggling with a number of chronic running injuries. As those seem to be clearing up, I may return to that topic on occasion. Running often clears the mind for writing.

I still think this a valuable tool for communicating with the great people of Resurrection and beyond. Though I often post some short comments on Facebook or Twitter, the longer format of a blog seems to work well for me.  If you have any comments/topics/critique, please leave a comment or send an email. Like most bloggers, I appreciate comments.

(BTW, my e-mail is back at resurrection-woodbury.org)

Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits (and the words) of another. Proverbs 27:17.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the communion of saints.

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Write Habits

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The Write Stuff

Writing this blog has become one of my daily work habits.  My original intention was to help my new congregation get to know me by telling some of the stories that have shaped my life, especially my faith life in Jesus Christ.  Yet I also believe that the act of writing shapes my faith as well.  Writing this blog has pushed me to express my faith in meaningful, concrete ways.

I have kept a journal since college, but it has always been a private thing.  Sometimes it has been my Bible study and prayer journal.  During the call process last summer, it was one way to reflect on whether or not to pursue the call to Resurrection. There have been long stretches where I did not journal much.  Other times where it was a daily MUST-DO to stay sane and keep perspective. 

In recent years, as I embraced running, my journal habit became my running log.  There are several on-line programs where a runner/biker/walker/blader can log their daily miles and work-out notes.  I became pretty meticulous in my record keeping, measuring my daily workouts  to the nearest tenth of a mile and second.  I could not go running without my heart-rate-monitor watch to record all the detail.  After the summer and fall of 2005, when I trained and ran my best marathon, my log from that training period shaped all my future marathon training programs.  

In a way this blog has taken on some of the characteristics of my journal and exercise log.  Since I have embraced this practice, I want to grow in my ability as well as my faith.   The one big difference is now I have a public audience (small but growing) that I seek to encourage, provoke, inform and challenge.  The readers’ comment help shape this blog and in turn shape me.  Thank you.

Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits of another.

What habits shape your faith life?