Beginning Blogging, Again

Even if I were not a true believer, and I'm pretty sure that I am not in many ways, when a sermon stirs the desire to begin blogging again, I think it's a pretty good idea to at least listen to that urge.  For several years, I blogged at "Thinking Through My Fingers" and enjoyed it.  When I stopped, I felt that I'd said all that I had to say, and that if I didn't have anything new, it was time to stop.

The sermon was given on Sunday, January 29th at University Presbyterian Church, Chapel, Hill, NC.  Full disclosure, Bob Dunham is my brother-in-law, or to be more technically correct, my wife's brother-in-law.  He is married to her sister, is a wonderful preacher, excellent community leader, even better person, and I love, respect, and am proud to say that I know the guy.  As I left the service that day, I told Bob that his sermon made it very difficult to just go home and vegetate on the couch.  I knew that it was time to become more involved.  I don't know how you can hear the poem he used, or listen to the last paragraph of the sermon without feeling the need to do something.  I've decided that my most effective way to speak out is to begin blogging again, speaking in the declarative sentences he urged us to use.

At TTMF, I specifically did not want the blog to be a record of an inner angst and discussion of myself.  I still do not want that, though in order to speak with the declarative voice there are, I suspect, going to be times that it will be necessary for me to examine why and what I believe, about any subject.  I hope that I will be able to speak clearly, concisely, and compassionately without ever closing off any other beliefs or thoughts.

I do not claim to have any personal knowledge or experience that inform what I will be writing.  I am 72 years old, have had a very varied life background that I suspect will become more evident over time.  Some of it is available at TTMF.  Who I have been will certainly provide a platform as I approach and write about the times in which we live.  I am liberal politically, but believe that I have enough sense to know that there are multiple perspectives to almost everything.  I hope that my age hasn't hardened my ideas that they cannot be challenged or changed.

I expect that as we proceed thought this, I will be writing about ideas gleaned from a variety of other blogs and from the news of the day.  I will always provide a link.  I am in the process of building this blog, and a list of some of the blogs and news reports I read regularly will be published at the side.  The design is not yet fully formed, but I think it's necessary to begin publishing now.