A Shameful Plug

In 2003 when I graduated high school the state of Ohio had a requirement that all students put together a portfolio. In the portfolio we had to include our high school diploma, a resume, some references, as well as some of our writing assignments done over the course of our senior year. I decided I would put my best pieces of work into the portfolio. I was very proud of what I created.

For some reason the portfolio made it into my office when I was in NC. As I have moved it has continued to travel with my office books. I don’t remember if it was when we were dating or since we have been married that my wife first looked through this piece of work. When she first looked at it she quickly noticed that my writing was horrible. Not only was my punctuation horrible but I butchered almost every grammar rule in the book. Looking back at the portfolio, I now ask the question, “How did my 12th grade English teacher allow me to put this crap in there?” Now I know I am not the world’s best writer or someone that a lot of people who pay money to read, but I have improved greatly.

Knowing where I started from and where I am today, now gives me the opportunity to poke fun. My wife has been dealing with some issues producing milk for our child. Through the frustration she has been driven to start her own blog to release some of the tensions. You should all check it; read from her fingertips the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows, and the learning opportunities of being a first time mom … crystaldawson.blogspot.com. But here is where I get to poke fun. I checked the blog out today and noticed that she broke many grammar rules. I immediately texted her this … “Don’t ever make fun of me for my grammar. Just saying!” (Because of the conversation proceeding she would not take that text in a negative or harsh way. Just saying). It was only her first post, and she was caring for our daughter and doing other things, but now she has lost all rights to get on me.

I love her very much and am very proud of her as a mom. I am also glad she is looking to use the blog as a release. Check it out, comment on her post and support her in amazing ways.

Yes I am Still Blogging

If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you have noticed that there has been a sudden drop in blog post. The drop was from daily post for a Bible reading, to doing it few and far between, and then in June it just stopped all together. There are several reasons for this. I will explain them below.

I started this blog to share my thoughts on life and ministry. I also wanted it to be a place where I could communicate with the members of my congregation. I decided last year to make this a place to do a Bible reading guideline from. For the first five months of the year this went really well. Then around the time Alivia was born I kind of stopped doing it as regular. Maybe it was because life got really busy, or maybe I lost my drive. I think both can sum it up.

Life got busy as any parent out there knows. Not only did I have the responsibility of helping Crystal with our daughter, but I also had all the responsibilities at church. Summer was quickly approaching and that means busy times for churches. West Side is no different. But something also happened. My drive for the blog was waning. I realized that most of my post we becoming very redundant. I was repeating myself each day having a hard time of being creative and different. The pattern began to be hit or miss and then in June I just decided to stop all together.

I needed a break. I needed to step away and get a new perspective. While I am not ready to start back with the Bible reading today, it will be back very soon. I am excited to see what God will teach me in the next couple of weeks. During the silence on the blog God has been working in different ways in my life and I am excited to share them with you. Keep checking back to see what new things God will be sharing through the blog and my life in the coming days.