Just before I went away on Holidays I had a bit of a blogging disaster where something I said on my blog a month ago came back to bite me.  The problem has been resolved and the mis-understanding sorted out, but it left me with zero motivation and a big question about why I was doing ministry at all.  It all blew up the day before I went on Holidays and thankfully I managed to get it sorted before I went away.  My holiday was a great time to get away with family and friends back in my home state and forget about the rather ridiculous situation I had just sorted out and avoided back here in Melbourne.  Anyhow, all this led me to think I need to say why I blog.
  1. I blog to try and work out what I'm thinking!  Often a blog is a random collection of my first thoguhts on an issue (like this one as to Why I Blog!)
  2. I blog to engage with ideas.  If I don't put what I'm thinking out there, then I'll never know if what i'm thinking is right or wrong.  So sometimes I say things that might seem offensive or controversial because I want to engage people in discussion and debate.  I love learning, and I love being told that I'm wrong and why.  So please engage with me!
  3. I blog to help other people.  The reason I put my sermons or youth talks or studies up, or things that I find interesting/useful on my blog is to help people find resources that they might find useful in their own ministry.
  4. Primarily however I blog for me.  I blog to get things out of my mind so I can keep it fresh and focussed on what I need to do at work or in my personal life.  I blog to get my thoughts ordered, I blog so I can remember where to find good or interesting resources and I blog because I enjoy it, and it's a bit of a hobby of mine. I enjoy the networking that happens and the engaging with ideas that happens.
So thanks to everyone who reads my blog.  Despite my discouragement a few weeks ago that i mentioned at the start of this blog, I am going to keep on blogging.  I am going to keep on trying to work out what I think.  I'm going to keep on saying what I think and I'm going to keep being happy to be corrected with well reasoned good biblical interpretation!  Maybe there are people looking to catch me out if I say something they don't like, but I won't be scared off calling things as I see them.

So engage me, rebuff me, rebuke me, encourage me and enjoy the dynamic interaction with ideas that blogging is!