Why blogging?

I thought a lot about what to do for Lent this year. Knowing my success rate at giving up things, the idea of actually giving things up was tossed out right away. It would be too hard on me.....especially the things that I kept thinking of to give up.
Chicken....nope.....that's pretty much my main source of protein. That wouldn't work.
Bacon......no way. Having discovered that I loved bacon shortly after turning 20, I still have a lot of years to make up for.
Shrimp.......can't do that one either although it would be easier than the other food items that I thought of. I discovered that I liked shrimp shortly before my 22nd birthday and haven't been able to get enough of it since. It's a good thing that I don't have a clue how to prepare it. It's also a good thing that my budget doesn't allow for me to go out to eat every time that I want some.

So, I thought about things that I could add to my day. The first thought was yoga. I've found it to be very calming and relaxing. I'm good at it because I used to be a dancer and the poses come pretty easy to me. I know though that there's no way that I can do yoga in my apartment. My puppy, Ross, would think that it's actually play time with Mommy and get in the way.  The second thought was Facebook. A lot of my friends are giving up Facebook for Lent. Why not me too? Well......that's how I find things out about my youth and families. I was actually able to keep track of one of my member's labor and delivery because of Facebook (and her posting while she was in labor).  It's also a communication tool for getting different event information out and keeping up with other youth pastors in my area. So, giving up Facebook just wouldn't work for me.

I finally settled on blogging for several different reasons. The first is that I'm already at a computer most of the day. I can jump on, type whatever I want to say out pretty quickly, publish it, and move on with my day. I can also do posting via either one of my two cell phones which will be helpful if I can't get to a computer for some reason. Typing my thoughts out is also very therapeutic for me. I'm not sure why it is but I know that I feel better about what's going on in my life once I've written it all out somewhere. I also thought that blogging would be a great way for my members to get to know me a little bit better. I can almost guarantee that most of my members didn't know prior to reading this posting that I love bacon and shrimp. Now, they do.  Lastly, blogging would allow me to really live this Lenten season where my members can be a part of it. 

I'm hoping that I can continue to blog without anything getting in my way and that this exercise will be one that's enlightening. It's my prayer that this will draw me closer to my members and to God.