Discerning Purpose for Year Three

Well, it's been almost a month since my last post. We are getting ready this week for another Thumpin' Thursday with our kids and if we see another birth at this one, I'll be worried since we are going to the bowling alley!

A couple of big things have happened since I last posted. Rhonda and I celebrated our 17th Anniversary. We attended her 20-year high school reunion (more to come on that later). I filed the papers and officially opened Gart Graphics for business - which means a little more attention in that direction is on it's way. We have had some crazy Sunday gatherings at the Y with the Springs and I missed my first gathering yesterday - even though I got a call at 8:30 from Justin regarding set-up.

I have been blogging now for two years. It's been a little work, a little fun, a little therapy and a little confusing. When I first started out, I read a book and the author challenged me to answer two questions - Who is the audience? What is the purpose? Over the two years, my audience may have shifted a little. I started with our little church being the audience, and it has grown to friends from all over the place, literally. I have new friends, old friends and friends I don't know yet. While the early blogs focused more on casting vision for our little faith community, the more recent blogs have tended to be much more personal. A critic of pastoral blogs once wrote something like this, "I don't want to hear another sermon when I read your blog, I want to hear something about you." In so doing, my goal has always been to explore the life of a Christ-follower in real, everyday situations. Nothing is off limits - at least I didn't plan for them to be. This got me in some hot water with some people during the election process last year, but it also deepened some other friendships. In any case, I want to be able to be honest - honest about questions I have and honest about my feelings toward the things I experience on a daily basis.

That all said, I am rethinking my third year of blogging. If you are reading this, you've probably visited before. I'd like your input. What have you liked about the blog, what have you disliked? Is there anything I could write about that would help you in your faith journey? I'd like to hear from you, but I realize that many of you don't like to post, so go ahead and email me at bgartman@me.com. I'll take whatever you want to pass along.

Anyway, thank you for being part of my little blogosphere. I'm looking forward to Year Three.