hey

I didn’t intend to take the summer off from blogging, it just sort of happened. I was busy with new sermon preps, building a third stall on my garage that I didn’t really need but had fun doing and thought it might help my boys learn what it means to be a man (we build things). After a few weeks went by, and then a month, I thought that I would just let the blog go for the summer, unless I had something urgent to say. And I didn’t.

Employers and publishers say that blogging is a necessary part of establishing a platform, which is necessary to succeed in today’s world. They’re probably right, but virtual reality still doesn’t seem fully real to me, and I’m glad that I still feel the freedom to not write something when I’m busy with real life. It may not be the best professional decision, but it’s good for my soul. I’m glad that I spent an entire summer without wondering how something I read in my devotions or saw in the news could be turned into a blog post. Nothing wrong with that, but there’s something right in remembering that the Internet should serve life rather than the other way around.

About one month into my sabbatical I started receiving a series of comments to my blog from strangers who marveled at my intelligence and writing skill. I figured it must be WordPress’s rather transparent way of encouraging latent blogs. Now that I’m posting again, they will certainly stop. I’ll have to sign up for another WordPress account and not post anything, just to hear again how wonderful I am.

I’m not sure if this post is making much sense. It’s just before 5, and I’ve been up since 3:00 with a throbbing toe. Yesterday I elected to have a mucous cyst removed from the top of my second toe. It’s a first world problem that I’ve lived with for years, but it can be painful and it mars my otherwise handsome feet. Since we hit our out of pocket maximum for this fiscal year, I thought why not cut it out? Well, this is why.

But the pain has me out of bed and blogging again, looking for events in real life that I can tell you about. One big one today is our university’s convocation, in which we will bestow emeritus status on Gary Meadors, Dave Kennedy, and John Lawlor. They are a distinguished group of recently retired professors—Gary especially mentored me into the teaching profession, a favor I returned by starting a rumor that he had a relationship with alcohol, a lie that he enjoyed for the simple fact that alcohol wasn’t allowed on our Baptist campus (it’s not gossip if they enjoy it). The drinking ban was lifted soon after the dancing ban went away, for the simple fact that most Baptists need a little booze to loosen up. Just because we may dance doesn’t mean we can.

If you’re in Grand Rapids around 10 this morning, come out and see our three friends receive their honor. Or if you had them in class, send them an email of appreciation. It’s a gold letter day.