Things I've learned From Blogging...

I suppose every person is entitled to their opinion and certainly the United States of America has fostered that concept with our Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, key Judicial Rulings by the Supreme Court, and the 'Right to Free Speech' as stipulated by our great Constitution. I'm a supporter of this freedom of free speech that affirms our right to express ourselves; but when we take our opinions 'live' and parade them openly in cyberspace for anyone to see (your family, friends, any of the 'alphabet agencies', your employer, your employees, your fellow Christians if you are one, and any other individual with spare time and an internet connection) then we potentially create a cybertrail you may think is innocent enough and perhaps even righteous in its cause, but ultimately it can create problems not only for you but those who participate with you in your discussion of ideas. That's sobering to me...

That said, the Internet has become a playground for ideas and chatter on all sorts of topics. While blogging has been around for a while, I believe it is still in its infancy. About right now someone is scratching their head and wondering where the word 'blog' came from and what is this all about. To be specific, let me give the Wikipedia diefinition on blogging:

BLOG A weblog, which is usually shortened to blog, is a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary), displayed in a reverse chronological order. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual although many focus on photographs, videos or audio. The word blog can also be used as a verb, meaning adding an entry to a blog.

Sounds simple enought doesn't it? And rather harmless at that... Well, that's where I think we are mistaken. Some of us are more gadget prone than others -- we boast of cell phones with cameras embedded into them, laptops, PDAs, numerous email accounts for work and personal use, digital music, photos and videos. If the medium is electronic, then there is a way to get it spun into the world wide web. Once it is in the web, it stays there unless one goes to great pains and efforts to attempt to remove it. Even then, you can't be assured you 'erased' it from the web because there is no such thing as an original on the web. Everything is an image on the web and all it takes is duplicating that image by another person and they simply re-cast it into the web. It really is rather intriguing and frankly somewhat mystifying and scary, at least to me.

You rightfully ask right about now, well why are you blogging about this if you feel this way? Well, that's what blogging is all about isn't it? The concept of sharing ideas and information. My primary point to the patient reader is that with the freedom to share ideas and information comes responsibility. To take it a step further, when I or anyone else enters into the arena of discussing God's Holy Word then responsibility and accuracy join hands with humility and love. I will be the first to confess that I have not treated every 'poster' with the equality and respect they deserve and for that I apologize. My words may not have reflected an unkind attitude, but my heart was not right at times when I posted some of my responses. I know, you can say that is passion and that's okay. However, I'm challenged now in my spirit to be 'slow to speak and slow to anger'.

I don't know how long I may keep this exercise up. But for now, while I keep blogging, I do promise to keep my posts respectful, void of name-calling, accurate to the best of my ability, humble and focused on Jesus and making Him known to the readers of this blog and the world.

Thank you for your time in reading this.

In Him,

Eye