Why Blog?

Not since the days of Xanga have I publicized my thoughts to the world. So to the 2-3 individuals (including my wife) who may be interested in why I'm blogging, here they are:

1) Self-Discovery
Flannery O'Connor once wrote, "I write to discover what I know" and I find that to be very true. In other words, I'm blogging partially for selfish reasons: I want to know what I really think. Proverbs tells us that man's heart is like "deep water," but a wise man will be able to "draw it out" (Prov 20:5). I'm hoping blogging can be a medium to help do this.

2) Encouraged By Others
For some reason, blogging has always seemed a bit pretentious to me ("Man look at me & my thoughts. They're so deep..."). I mean, why not just keep a journal? But strangely a lot of people have been encouraging me to blog. Again, I feel kind of pretentious for doing this, but maybe there is a benefit in public self-expression. At the very least, I'm forced to crystallize my thoughts and allow others to challenge them. At most, I can challenge others and help crystallize their thoughts.

3) Unique Perspective
One unique element I may bring to the table is my context: 1) I'm young (kinda) 2) I'm Asian (kinda) 3) I'm a pastor. I don't know too many Asians who blog - especially Asian pastors. I'm not sure why this is. A friend of mine theorizes that Asians don't really know how to express themselves. Ex: Asians who have Twitter accounts tend not to tweet on a regular basis but only have an account to see other people's tweets.

Pastors/Christians tend to be worse. A lot of Christian blogs I read often sound overtly spiritual to the point where they are not relatable, or they tend to be long ramblings that I stop reading midway through. I hope to avoid both (but perhaps I just did both).

My goal is to blog weekly (Mondays) and to keep at it. That's why I chose squarespace to blog - monthly payments has a way of keeping you disciplined. I'm sure I'll post things that are at times controversial or regretful. But if it helps me (and others) learn and grow in even the most incremental of ways, this whole journey will have been well worth it.