I enjoy rereading things that I wrote long ago. It’s an enlightening exercise. Sometimes it’s clear that my understanding of a particular subject has greatly expanded since I last wrote on it. At other times I realize I may have once felt more strongly about something than I now do.
Some people may believe it doesn’t matter all that much what they once thought. It is true that our current thinking defines who we are. But a blessing comes when we can identify patterns: Do we tend to get excited about things for short periods of time and then lose interest? (Matthew 13:20-21.) Do we focus on trivial things? (1 Corinthians 3:12-15.) Is our consecration slipping? (Hebrews 2:1—I’ve been told the original Greek for “let them slip” suggests “leaking out,” as with bag with holes in it.) Are we now kinder than we once were? (2 Peter 3:18.) These kinds of observations can help keep us on course towards improvement.
When we recognize patterns or trends in our thoughts, we are better equipped to deal with them. Of course, if we see mostly positive changes it would be foolish to let our guard down; better, we should resolve to continue on to new heights.
Just recently I was going back through old “Friends and Family” emails that I’ve written. I noted changes in length, style, and quality of writing. But more than that I saw how God led and how He provided for my needs, my need of understanding in particular, at just the right time. It is such a blessing to go back and see what things God revealed to you in the past. More often that not, I’ve found that the things God showed me long ago are the very things that I need to be reminded of now. God is always ahead of the game. (Example: Most of what you are now reading in this post was written about eight years ago, but never published. I just found it in my files.)
I have both a private personal blog, where I record both spiritual insights and general events, and obviously I also have this public blog that you are now reading. Both serve a useful place. Of course, someone doesn’t need a computer to journal; many people get along just fine with ink and paper, or a traditional diary.
It seems that just about every eminent person over the last four or five centuries, including powerful religious figures, has kept a journal or diary. It is a time tested method, one used by the brightest and best. I highly recommend it.
I have long been a fan of the ministry of Boundless. Their focus is young adults, and they are driven by firm Christian principles. They hit on all the hard issues, and do so biblically. Young people are often the ones asking the important questions, and for this reason youth ministry is often the context in which the most meaningful dialog occurs.
I highly recommend subscribing to their RSS feed. And if you can, respond to the posts with comments. Commenting on blogs is a hugely underrated form of Christian ministry; I do it all the time, and sometimes it seems like only a small handful of my friends have an interest in it. I’m speaking particularly of community blogs, not personal ones; although both are channels where we can be salt and light. There are so many opportunities to share grains of truth and form new relationships with people outside your circle. It’s quick, it’s easy, and the rewards are all out of proportion with the effort required.
I discovered a way to import all my old blog posts into WordPress. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me at the time, this had the tragic side effect of sending each and every one of those old posts to everyone on my email list. I am truly sorry about that! It’s one of those unhappy twists of fate that makes you want to go hide in a cave somewhere until people forget you ever had a blog!
I’ve recently completed the process of moving all subscribers to my new blog. I expect its new web-based email subscription system will work better.
- All emails from me will say they are from MichaelPrewitt.com, not from FeedBlitz.
- Replies to emails will be delivered to me, and not to some stranger!
- It is no longer necessary to go through another third party to add comments to a blog post. There is also support for personal avatars; initially Gravatars are enabled (when you comment with the email address associated with a Gravatar), and later I plan to add user profiles for those who want them.
Previously I was using the third-party service called FeedBlitz. They monitored my blog, and whenever there was a new post they sent emails to to everyone who had subscribed. It worked reasonably well, except that some people were confused about the relationship between me and FeedBlitz, and some thought that FeedBlitz was the name of my blog! Now that there are no third parties, I hope things will run more smoothly.
I have just switched from RapidWeaver to WordPress as my blogging software. At the moment, my blog looks very generic, but I plan to update it over the next several days and weeks into something nicer.
Why did I switch? Here are some of the advantages of the new software:
- The old software, RapidWeaver, is client-based (it’s a Mac application that runs on your computer), whereas WordPress is server-based (it runs in a browser, and can be updated from anywhere where there is Web access). This means that when I’m away from home and I find something that I want to post on my blog, I don’t have to e-mail myself a reminder or send myself a file to post online later; I can do it right then. If I’m on location at a special event, I can post updates as events happen.
- RapidWeaver is commercial software, whereas WordPress is free. I’ve already been through two paid upgrades of RapidWeaver, and I’m ready for something free.
- WordPress is much more flexible and customizable than RapidWeaver. There are probably hundreds of plugins that extend the functionality of WordPress, as well as hundreds of user-developed design themes to use or adapt. There is a very robust user community to go to for help and support.
- Many standard blogging features such as comments and RSS are better handled by WordPress.
On the flip side, WordPress is a bit more technical, and therefore more difficult for the average computer user to tackle; RapidWeaver is easy and fun to use, and well within the reach of average users. I was quite happy with RapidWeaver for a while, but now I’ve outgrown it.
So what’s next?
I need to bring over some of my posts from the old site to the new one, to give the content a little jump start. I haven’t decided whether I will go through the trouble of moving everything over. Then I need to move all of my subscribers over to the new blog.
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