This site is being built for the SECOND time! That’s right, my first site utterly disappeared one day, yea for me! So I’m in the process of. My first goal is to get the content back up and then work on the layout and the look. So come back later and see what I’ve added. My first site was started in 2017 when I turned 50!
“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing.” —Benjamin Franklin
My Reasons:
- Mom’s Death – My Mother wrote poems throughout her life, and a weekly “newsletter/ personal letter” for several years. We can’t talk to Mom anymore, but what she wrote now lives on, so family and others can enjoy her stories and learn from her words. I, too, want to leave something for those who live beyond me. After my Mom’s death, I found some notes she had written after attending a writing seminar. Apparently the speaker said something like…”After we’re gone only our writings live on.”
- I turned 50 in 2017. I spent a little time reflecting on my past and contemplating what I want to do with my future. I decided it was time to take the difficult task of investing time and effort in writing that may have an influence on my family and friends. I certainly didn’t choose writing because it comes easy for me. On the contrary, it’s difficult. I chose a blog page because of the media combination of writing, photos and videos, all of which offer the opportunity for influence.
- Andy Stanley’s YouTube video on Mentoring has been echoing in my soul, “What are you going to do with the treasure that’s in you?” That theme is driving me to find the place to offer some of the treasures (that is successes and failures) that I have in me.
MY CHALLENGES:
1. Write things worth reading, and do things worth writing.
2. I’m spelling and grammar-challenged, which means nearly everything I write needs to be proofread by someone, most often, my excellent proofreading wife, Janet. This slows down the process of posting. So if you see errors at all, it’s because I didn’t have it proofread first. Seriously, it has often caused me to not write at all. At work we recently reviewed Seth Godin’s book titled, Linchpin, where he articulates that we should not let perfection prevent us from publishing. Well, bad spelling or not, I’ll do my best to get things proofread, but I need to get past the hesitation of publishing just because it hasn’t been proofread yet.
3. It takes so much time and effort to write. For some, writing is effortless; that’s how athletics were for me. But writing is not effortless, it is clearly effort-full. I can quickly write 75% of an article in minutes, but the last 25% is excruciating, and takes so much time to finish it, clean it up, and make it right.
WHAT’S THE BLOG ABOUT?
Inspiration – Amidst all the garbage that is found online, there are also some amazing and inspiring stories, thoughts, and photos that can help all of us see life with a silver lining.
Leadership – While obtaining my Masters Degree in Leadership, I studied lots of theory and examples, and found some great thoughts that I would like to expand upon and share.
Commentary – Current events was a favorite class in high school 30 years ago. It was a great opportunity for discussing and debating amongst peers. For a long time, I have had opinions about current events, and I have mostly kept silent. Well, turning 50, I have decided to add some commentary to the world’s events.
Mentoring – Andy Stanley’s message about mentoring is one of the most inspirational and challenging messages I have heard in a long time. It was given as a sermon, but it’s a strong mentoring message. Andy lays out a clear rationale for each of us mentoring someone in our lives. He is an excellent communicator, and I have echoed his theme many times, “What are you going to do, with the treasure that’s in you?” Each of us have treasures of success and failure that should be shared with others, but it will die with us unless we share our story with others.
Historical Perspective – Life repeats itself, the past and the present collide creating opportunities for our future. There are some wonderful lessons and heroes from the past that are worthy of our time to discover and share.
Faith Integration – If we choose to live by faith, how do we integrate faith into our lives, or more precisely, how do we integrate our lives into our faith?