I intend NOT to blog for the month of September. This will be my longest ever blog-fast.
Why?
- Because I feel that a new season is upon us and I need to take a breather before plunging in. If i dont, I may miss this new season through laxity and the curse of routine sameness. Does that make sense??????
- Because after my 5 year blogiversary I decided to take an extended break and rethink my blog. But it never happened and I feel like I should have.
- Because I Do suffer from blog addiction and blog fasting is a way for me to kill the old man and crucify him again - allowing God the opportunity of resurrection in his way.
- Because I have travelled FAR TOO MUCH in the last 3 months and I want to be around for my family this month. I also need to do non-blogging tasks like reading, writing, administrating and emailing and i dont want to get distracted.
- Because my blog is old and tired and not nearly as much fun as it used to be. I want to be re-inspired and invigorated.
- Because I have an idea of how blogging should be and I want my blog to catch up to my vision.
- Because I have been SELFISH in my blogging recently, concerned with building my own blog and tracking my own progress rather than being a resource on other people's blogs.
- Because the quality of my blog posts has decayed and I am posting fewer poetic posts [a sign of good spiritual health] and fewer thoughtful theological/missiological posts [a sign of rigorous thinking in my head] and I need to raise the bar.
- Because I have become infatuated [again] with my stats and my blog authority and google-ranking - a form of idolatry and narcissism that can only be harmful.
- Because my blog is becoming institutional and I want to OWN it again - as a whole-life blog and not a way of fulfilling other peoples expectations.
- Because my blogging world is more complex, involving a number of blogs, and I need to think on how to bring all these worlds together
- Because I want to PURGE my site of the thousands of visitors who are jumping in without any history and would do better reading someone else's blog written by someone who has the time to explain the basics.
Probably other reasons also. There will, however, be one or two posts to finish off the month of August that i might back-date to put them in place.
Anyway, when i come back on October 1st, I hope to be in a better place and have a smaller but more committed readership. Those of you who read TSK daily and are thinking of moving on to other blogs - God bless you all. Thanks for being a part of my life and allowing me to be a part of yours. Those who want to track with me in the NEXT STAGE of what God is doing in this crazy emerging Kingdom thing, then pray for me over the next month, hook up again on October 1st, and get ready for the next level. Together!
Peace out.
Andrew (tall skinny kiwi)
Related: Blogging Less, Living More
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The Blogger’s Prayer 1.2 by Andrew Jones
Our Father
who lives above and beyond the blogosphere
Give us this day a life worth blogging,
The access to words and images that express our journey with passion and integrity,
And a secure connection to publish your daily mercies.
Your Kingdom come into new spaces today,
As we make known your mysteries,
Posting by posting,
Blog by blog.
Give this day,
The same ability to those less privileged,
Whose lives speak louder than ours,
Whose sacrifice is greater,
Whose stories will last longer.
Forgive us our sins,
For blog-rolling strangers and pretending they are friends,
For counting unique visitors but not noticing unique people,
For delighting in the thousands of hits but ignoring the one who returns,
For luring viewers but sending them away empty handed,
For updating daily but repenting weekly.
As we forgive those who trespass on our sites to appropriate our thoughts without reference,
Our images without approval,
Our ideas without linking back to us.
Lead us not into the temptation to sell out our readership,
To see people as links and not as lives,
To make our blogs look better than our actual story.
But deliver us from the evil of pimping ourselves instead of pointing to you,
From turning our guests into consumers of someone else’s products,
From infatuation over the toys of technology,
From fame before our time is right.
For Yours is the power to guide the destinies behind the web logs,
To bring hurting people into the sanctuaries of our sites,
To give us the stickiness to follow you, no matter who is watching or reading.
Yours is the glory that makes people second look our sites and our lives,
Yours is the authority above all authorities
Yours is the ranking above all rankings
For ever and ever,
Amen
