Wednesday, September 1, 2010

To Blog Or Not To Blog That is the Question

It was a warm summer evening in late July. Invited for dinner was steak, crab, corn on the cob, hamburgers, Becca Mann and Erik Williams. Becca’s and Erik’s families were MIA as the result of family vacations and service to God. Three of the attendees had given their lives for our enjoyment while the other two had given their time. The heat of summer dissipates rapidly in the wake of an Oregon sunset. The lot of us welcomed the cool refreshing change as we sat around our small beat up kitchen table that had seen way to many sloppy children’s art projects and desperately begged for its sixth coat of paint. The table was half cleared our first three guests. We then enjoyed desert and great conversation. The Mann’s and the William’s are adopting children from Ethiopia and we spent much of the evening dreaming, planning and anticipating what the next several months will hold for these expectant parents. Michelle and I felt as though we had won front row seats to God’s will for our friend’s lives as they shared amazing stories of His provision and leading. God’s story unfolding before our eyes is far more exciting then anything Hollywood can offer. All great conversation has a rhythm and flow and this one had now taken an unexpected twist. The rhythm had now taken us from the miracles to the absurd. We now found ourselves talking about blogging. Perhaps it was the fact that all of us were high on protein or that we were just talking about how God can perform the impossible but one of our female guests had the audacity to throw down a blogging challenge. 40 days, 40 blogs.

The Titans of the blogosphere embraced this challenge like a Pollock to a pierogi. Becca Mann a seasoned veteran of blogging, who is both elegant in word and deed, Erik with a K Williams, a relational genius who’s creativity is only restrained by the limits of the law,
and Michelle Unwin, the most beautiful woman I have ever met and who’s talent in all things makes the rest of the human race bow in awe to her shear amazingness, and me, the Bart Simpson of literary world.
The gauntlet had been laid down. This foolish challenge enticed our competitive demons. One by one the Titans signed on. Becca’s brain child quickly found fertile soil in the blogging trinity. “We should start today, Who is in? ” This question found the rocky ground of my blogability. The three committed quickly and with enthusiasm. 40 blogs in 40 days found 40 reasons for me to say “no way!”. Don’t get me wrong. I love to blog. First, I’m a rather eclectic bohemian hippie blogger who writes when I’m inspired. (That is why I haven't written a blog in a year.) The constraints and pressure of such an endeavor would crush my creative free spirit. Second, the thought of such an academic pursuit seems like an Everest of effort. Let me keep it real with you and confess to you that I may have been one of the worse students in the history of the Farmington School District. The subject of English was as appealing to me as warm orange juice. My ability to spell and type makes fourth graders feel really good about themselves. In my mind grammar is a sweet cracker in which you place a roasted marshmallow and chocolate and enjoy around a camp fire. One blog in my universe equals 6 in yours. One blog can take me hours. Really, I’m that pathetic. Committing to 40 blogs will require time that I don’t have. I have mentioned in previous blogs how Erik with a K can talk me into just about anything. The committed Titans began to work on my stony resistance. My heart strings were now being played. Someone suggested that we could pull all of our blogs together and make a book to raise money for their adoptions. I played my last card of resistance by protesting the time commitment required. “We will start today but you can start in September.” Erik suggested. On August 31st I became unemployed, so September 1 seemed more than fair. Time kicked me in the butt once again as now I will have an abundance of it. Today I join the Titans. 40 blogs in 40 days. Their journey is ¾ of the way finished. My Everest will begin today as I climb this mountain with only one finger and no regard for the laws of grammar. Spell check will break new records for usage and I will attempt to stay in touch with my inner eclectic bohemian hippie. I hope you will enjoy the ride as once again Stevey Wonders.

7 comments:

Bex said...

WHOA!! Welcome to 40 days, Steve!! What a great first post. So happy you're back! Thrilled to read your fabulous posts every day. Thinking of you today, praying for you and, as always, believing in you. You are a rockstar.

Unknown said...

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I pushed Steve so hard to be part of this journey! Pure Genius!

Steve said...

Thanks Bex and Erik. I have loved reading your blogs the past weeks. You two are the ones that are amazing!

Krister said...

Yo. I'm a pal of Ew/aK who's been following along the 40 in 40... looking forward to yours too. Fantastic kick off. I.Can't. Wait.

Anonymous said...

i liked the part about bart simpson. you are my favorite of blogs. you are so good! im pumped for the next 40 days!!!

Michelle said...

Hold on to your hats friends... I've gotten a sneak peek at some of the entries to come... make sure you have clean underwear nearby... because you'll be laughing so hard you'll be changing them quite a bit... HYSTERICAL!!! And Steve... can't wait to publish a book of these! You're amazing!!!

Anonymous said...

I tried to comment earlier but experienced some rather embarrassing internet fail (at least for a guy that makes a living by mocking...er "fixing" people's computer problems)

Anyhow. Your folly is revealed, Steve. By SHARING a blog with your wife, you can outsource the burden of keeping it current to said wife. That's what I do.

Our last update was on May 20, so maybe my plan is not quite so foolproof. Outsourcing never works anyhow.

Personally I look forward to many more elaborate dissections of the human experience. Particularly if they involve body odor and/or secretions.