Recently I did the quarterly review of the kind of stuff that’s been published over at the over place. As I mentioned in that report though, whereas that blog is an open access blog with a lot of stuff easily accessible to people interested in the things I am, this here blog, the older blog, the original blog is more personal. There’s been a lot of personal stuff to report on over the last few months. Hey 2009 was a big year for the personal stuff, so it’s of little surprise that this year was the continuation of some serious personal stuff.
There is more personal stuff to take on board and there’ll be an update on that all being well in the not too distant future, but lets have a look back at what’s been going on in the first quarter of 2010.
January
The transitional stage of me life dominated the first few entries of the year. It wasn’t just about the physical move from Stoke-on-Trent to Little Hulton, but about perspectives of the new covered in the Out with the Old. There was a neat set of entries at the beginning of the year giving a good insight into what was going on with me through some directional issues like How Do We Get There and especially the one looking at A Blank Piece of Paper. Entering the new is about saying goodbye as well and that was explored in my little habit of never saying goodbye.
In line with all the changes going on it was time to say goodbye to my time at the North Staffs YMCA and I took a great deal of pleasure in writing about that in that post. Taking pleasure in the way of sending some heartfelt sentiments to a place and people who I was honoured to serve alongside.
Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the month was the start of the series on Law & Order: Spiritual Intent. Getting out of the old and into the new was a tough process for me and I knew I needed to devote sometime to looking at that in greater detail by checking out some of my basics again. Exploring the Ten Words through the concept was something that was inspired and I loved starting that in the month. The time spent exploring the themes were revelatory for me in some significant aspects that I’d never considered carefully before, one of which forms the blog entry of the month.
That particular aspect I had explored earlier on the month when considering what it was to be faithful. It came as a surprise to me to see exactly how that cropped up again but to lay this as a foundation for my own challenge in exploring my relationship with God helped to reinforce some of the things that remain in the shifting sands of the transition. Sometimes when the most fundamental of things change, it is hard to hold on to that which remains. Sometimes faith in God is hard when everything you hold dear seems to be under severe question, but being reminded of His enduring faithfulness was a great help.
The view stats for the month were the beginning of how many people viewed the new WordPress blog expression, so to a large extent I didn’t know what to expect in the numbers. I was intrigued to see how the numbers somewhat fluctuated over that first and some of the factors that affected its interest. At the time I was too busy with other things to really push it by promoting it through other means.
Blog Entry of the Month: L&O:SI – Forever Faithful
The most important relationship in my life with another human being is the one I have with my wife. Especially over the last eight to ten months that has proven to be crucial to the significant steps that we made over this year. Whilst devoting time, then, to getting in tune with the basics again looking at the relationship through the eyes of God’s Word and regarding that in terms of what His faithfulness means to me was a real eye-opener. To then check that with my own challenging approach to how I relate to my wife had a great deal to do with the stuff I endured through February and how we were able to walk through it going into March and beyond. So this entry had huge significance for that period of time.
February
In January I needed a new laptop and when I got it I didn’t have Microsoft Office on it and when I considered the ‘competitive’ price fo getting it, I sought alternatives by the one called Mr. Alternative in my family, my brother David. He turned me onto OpenOffice which I didn’t get at first, but when I gave it a go and saw how familiar it was to Microsoft Office and decidedly cheaper (like, free) I was more than happy to keep the thing. When I discovered that I was able to save documents as .pdf files, well oh happy day. Then when I saw I could post ..pdf files on the blog, well, well, well.
The end of the L&O:SI season one series was the perfect time to compile the series – the first time I did it – and also post the series in a section on the blog interestingly entitled – DMCD Series. (Stating the bleeding obvious was one of those things I got marled up on back in the day.) I really felt good completing the series and having a central location to put them altogether. So that was great fun.
I kept it real as well in keeping it personal with some blog entries connecting faith, movies and cultural references (Believe It Mini-Series: Sherlock Holmes, Up In The Air and Because You’re Worth It) Then taking that further to consider some of the paths I’m considering in my future endeavours (Where Are We Now and Where Do I Go From Here: Parts One, Two and Three).
Gospel tunes were sprinkled over the month in a way that the previous month had seen which reflected the role music played in getting me through a very tough month. February was also the month that saw me start another ongoing series, but on a more sporadic basis which helped to cover some of the basics that I believe in the imaginatively titled Is This What I Believe series.
It definitely appeared to be series month in February, with all the other things covered it was also the time to let out some much needed steam about the leaving process. I don’t think I’m over the move quite yet. It was and is a deeply traumatic decision to leave everything and the Exit Strategy Interview was my best effort at answering some questions I’m sure people would have wanted to ask about the whole thing. This was a deeply therapeutic process for me and part of getting to grips with the whole confusion of moving on.
The views on the site increased from January and this was down to inviting more people to read certain entries especially as the Exit Strategy Interview was published. This in no way though gave any indication over what was to come.
Blog Entries of the Month: Lesson to Learn in Life: Take Your Faith Seriously & Graciously
There was quite a few good blog entries over February that I’m particularly pleased with. The end of the L&O:SI season one series was a favourite in looking at how it was structured and everything. What edges this one entry slightly after this is the level of work that was put in it from a biblical and experiential perspective. From the link to Randy Alcorn and the original interview to drawing out some of the principles and issues that lie underneath was something that I reckon I could use again and again to encourage us to be aware of the things that could offend us, but still be able to respond as Jesus would want us. Not easy, not simple, but essential in taking His name seriously and not bringing it into disrepute.
March
I suppose with everything that had been posted from January to that time interest in the blog had picked up somewhat, but there’s picking up interest and there’s doubling the amount of views from one month to another. What do I put that down to? I dunno, maybe the friends thing. Can’t put my finger on it, but definitely enjoy the rise in numbers.
One thing I can say about March is that the level of productivity over the month was surprising even for me. I never set out to do anything except pick up the level of consistency with the blogging. Previously I had just forgotten one day in February, which was an improvement on the handful of days I missed in January. To have the number of blog entries in March (51 unless my counting is out of whack) though was beyond what I’d been planning for. This would be understood if I really had nothing better to do with my time, if I was stuck for things to do. That was not the case, though, as will be revealed in a future post.
What it was that sparked the burst of creativity or at least productivity was the things bouncing off from the central focus of the month – the March Through Proverbs. I feel it was made to order to move a scheme that I had done privately at first and then share it with the church which I was a part of, to put it on the blog. That made a whole heap of sense and also helped to settle in me a regular routine and discipline for the writing and for my bible application in a way that I hadn’t come across previously. It comes as no surprise then with the idea to do the entries for every day in March that it’s one of them that makes the entry for the month.
Beyond that focus over the month I was pleased to just post from the heart about marriage. Some posts are a mini assignment in terms of the things covered and researched for it. This one was straight from the heart and a celebration and praise for being married and for what God evidently wanted me to enjoy in the practice. I hope to be able to look back on posts like this as real stepping stones in building firmer foundations for the most important relationship in my life at a crucial crossroads in it.
I also wanted to get off my chest something about the honesty is the best policy mantra that’s been doing the rounds, so I enjoyed putting together the post about it, really, if I’m honest with you. Speaking of being honest, a major part of my life that I’ve not really shared on the blog is about sex. It’s a funny subject to deal with, but I felt comfortable approaching it in the way I did on the basics approach to the issue in the Is This What I Believe series.
Blog Entry of the Month: MTP17 Bad Times As Good Times In Disguise
Outside the MTP series one of the strongest blog entries I’ve put together … ever … was the one on I Digress – The Sin Condition. It resonated so much for me with where I was and to an extent still am at with my understanding of the sin condition. It was good to put it down there like that and on any other month, it would probably have won the entry of the month hands down. So it’s saying something about the entry that did win the prize.
As I said the MTP held the winner in this category but there were some doozies. I narrowed it down to a shortlist of three. Proverbs as a Jazz Album was an innovative into reading the Proverbs that I never saw before and had great joy in writing it. No Additives was a really good entry in terms of seeing how that Proverb fit in the larger scriptural context and contrasted with our culture as well. Strong cases could be made for both of them as winning the title.
What swung it in the favour of this post was because everything is relational at its best and in terms of the difficulties people have in dealing with bad times in life, this was a case that I could relate to so well with what I’m going through. To be able to see the links and write from that basis and even link it with the implicit gospel narrative was something I was humbled to put together and to me it’s an important post to read to get an angle on the meaning of life, friendship and success.
In Closing
Things have really picked up in terms of consistency and quality on the blog for which I give god much thanks. There is no room or time to rest on laurels and as another very crucial part in the life of DMCD approaches the outlet of blogging will be all the more important. I intend to be personal as ever on the blog and give insight where I can. I am glad to know, though that between January and March there’s a body of work that I would show my daughters as they grow and out-read their father and have them critically analyse just where I was coming from in what I saying.
Now just the small matter of carrying on with the work, and staying faithful with it until the end.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 