Tried With Fire

It may be silly for me to post this for my little blog, but hey, why not? Writing is a way to get thoughts out of my head for further examination, so whether it is read or not is secondary. But this also gives me an idea of which subjects struck a chord or possibly a nerve. Based on this list, those subjects are: domestic violence, women in the church and society, the eternal subordination of the Son (ESS) debate, John Piper's rather perplexing statements on justification by faith, and thinking through difficult, ethical issues. Given my interests and concerns, I'll probably keep writing about them in the coming year. 10. If I had my druthers 9. These were tied:  Questioning a false dichotomy  &   The ESS elephant is still in the room 8.  Justified and not sanctified? 7. Roles: Another Andelin Connection? 6. It took "Hidden Figures" 5. Does this say what I think it says? 4. Domestic violence in the Australian church 3. "Me, myself, and I" spirit...

Like others have observed, in the good old days of blogging, you could write what you wanted to write without worrying about maintaining an image. Of course that was even easier when you were the only reader. I confess that lately I've worried about what other people think instead of just being who I really am in Christ, quirks and all. There's a time to be serious and a time for fun, but I never want to be anything other than myself in either case. If this is the heart of old-school blogging, then I'm going to stick with it. So to continue in that spirit, I am borrowing  Lisa 's idea. Here are seven things about myself that you may not know: 1. My sense of humor was formed (or warped) by Rocky and Bullwinkle and The Muppet Show . 2. My favorite article of clothing is an old UCLA hoodie which I am wearing right now. 3. I am an Anglophile thanks to Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, PBS Masterpiece Theatre, and Doctor Who. BTW, Tom Baker is my favorite Doctor. 4....

I'm posting elsewhere today: Grace Incognito at Out of the Ordinary Lydia at Theology for Girls as part of the Women in Scripture series. See you there...

I've been having trouble blogging lately. It was a lot easier when I first started. No one read what I wrote except for a few folks wandering over from Calvinist Cartoons . I wrote what I felt like writing and didn't care what people thought. But it's different now. Lisa put her finger on it when she posted on the unspoken rules  of blogging. And with those rules comes pressure. Pressure to write well, pressure to be meaningful/deep/profound. Pressure to find your niche in the blogsphere. I don't like the pressure. But who says I have to abide by the rules that aren't really there? And as for fear of man, that needs to take a long hike. In the end, the only thing that should motivate me is pleasing the Lord. So in that spirit, I am turning over a new blogging leaf. No pressure. No feeling like I need to live up to a nonexistent standard. My daughter told me, "Don't feel like you have to maintain an image. Just be yourself." Wise girl, no? I don...

I never got around to finishing my post for today. The words were on the tip of my brain/fingers, but they just wouldn't come out in a satisfactory manner. Also time with my daughter this evening was infinitely more important. I don't want blogging to become an idol that must be appeased by a daily post, and if I'm honest the temptation is there. It was rather nice letting go of the pressure of completing a post for the sake of completion's sake. I should learn to do that more often and let real life win.

I'm posting today at  Daily On My Way to Heaven  as part of the series,  Celebrating the Excellencies of His Name .  I hope you will stop by and be encouraged in the Lord.

This is my 1000th post. So with this milestone, here's a little blogging history and thankful list rolled into one: I'm thankful for the internet and Google which led me to... The Spurgeon Archive in 2007. This was perhaps the hardest time in my life, and a friend (nonreformed, too) suggested I read some Spurgeon. His sermons and devotionals were nourishment to my spiritually starved soul. This site in turn led me to... Pyromaniacs which was the 1st Christian blog I ever read. Their posts were eye-opening and showed me how little I understood what I believed but spurred me to want to know more. I then started checking out their blog roll and ended up at... Timmy Brister's blog, Provocations and Pantings , at the start of the 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge, which shows the amazing providence of God. It would be an understatement to say that God used those dead guys to revolutionize my theology. I then started Tried With Fire mainly to record quotes from the books ...

and nowadays  the fingers  ... In the sermon on James 3:1-12, Pastor Ryan stated that although the Internet wasn't alive in James' day, electronic communication isn't exempt from the charge to bridle our tongues.  Therefore, we should consider well what we "say" even if it isn't with our mouths. Tweeting, Facebook, blogging, etc. are all venues which have elevated the volume of idle words to new heights. Don't get me wrong. I think these forms of media can and have been used for the glory of God. But it's a lot easier to fire off an electronic missive without a second thought or taking the time to consider its impact. One could say, "It's my blog, so I can say what ever I want." But just because I have a pulse and an electronic soapbox doesn't necessarily mean that my opinion is beneficial. I'm not advocating milk-soppishness and politically correct "niceness" when it comes to robust declaration of the truth or de...

I was curious about the why's and how's of other bloggers, hence the following questions.  Thanks for responding. 1. Why do you blog? 2. How long have you been blogging? 3. How much time to you spend writing a post? 4. How much time to you spend reading blogs? 5. Do you have a backlog of ideas or do you post what's on your mind as you sit in front of your computer? 6. Based on your experience, what are some positives and negatives about blogging? [Comments not subject to statistical analysis, and no fancy bar graphs will be forth coming. :-)]

This is my 500th post. I started my blog in 2008 as part of my quest to make sense of what was happening in my life.  At the same time, God mercifully began to open up the truth of His sovereignty.  I'm a very different person today (for the better I hope!), and this blog has been a record of finding my home in the Doctrines of Grace. I still have much to learn in the way of writing well and wrestling through ideas. so blogging has been good practice.  I have a store of topics that are on the back burner, but I want to think carefully and learn to write with clarity before I commit to "paper".  I don't know if I have found my "voice" yet, but I think it will come as I continue to read, think, and write. It has been a joy to "meet" brothers and sisters through the blogsphere.  I have been blessed by your love of the Word, appreciation for Church history, the quotes, your sense of humor, and book and sermon recommendations.  I've learned to...