To blog or not to blog...that was the question

I need to own upfront I am no techie.  I am one of those chicks who has no interest in learning how to take messages off my cell phone--my inbox has been full since the first week I had a phone.  Until this spring, I actually would go into the Verizon store and just ask for the most basic phone they made.  "I just want a phone that can make and receive phone calls, nothing more."  The twenty-something clerk looked less than amused as she half-heartedly chewed her gum and walked me over to a dank corner where they keep the dinosaur models, for those of us trying to just hold on to the good ol' days.  This spring I ventured over to the bells and whistles section when I learned I had an upgrade and my dear husband convinced me it would be handy to check email on a Blackberry.  It has been handy, but my email account now has 10,000 emails because I am not good at deleting them.  The real reason I crossed the river of technology improvement however, is I have two "teenies" as I affectionately call them.  On rare occasions when I feel less than affectionate, I call them other things which I am ashamed to report.  The boys are prompt to collect one dollar when this happens, because we do not swear or name call in our family.  It's humbling to fall on one's own rules, but there you have it--our family's rather lame attempt at rectifying verbal failure.  So...technology is a part of their generation and texting is a mainstay.  A Blackberry put me in contact with my boys IN their world.  I love that I can text them little comments on occasion or quick questions.  My sons are duly impressed I have ventured in, however, my fifteen year old recently told me I use the smiley face option "way too often."  Who knew the smiley face options could out you as unhip?

  So, I actually had to buy a book to learn about blogs, the quintessential Blogging for Dummies.  Yep, perfect fit.  For the past three weeks, after my four children were in bed, I have curled up with a cup of goldfish crackers, a bottle of metromint water, and my Barnes & Noble buy, hoping to demystify the blogging world.  With the technological hurdle seeming more approachable, I saw a coiuple of questions rise to the surface that I have decided to just answer at the outset.

1.  Why am I setting out to do a one year web log?
  You should know, I am an absolute romantic at heart.  I believe every person on this planet is living out his or her own tailor-made story.  Fundamentally, we are doing life as part of a much bigger tale, woven across time, with a very real enemy, Satan, and the ultimate Hero--Jesus Christ.  Yep, I believe both of these persons are absolutely real and living and actively engaged in humanity today.  I love entering people's stories and ulitmately delighting in what is transcendantly true for all of us as human beings--beyond gender, ethnicity, locale, education, and economics.  Human stories are connected in a myriad of ways, even if we believe very different things about life, love, faith, and what it means to be a human being. I will be sharing parts of my story with one central theme at the heart--everything is spiritual.  Writing this blog, planning a meal for my family, wiping the hair remnants from the bathtub, making love with my husband, sending a note to a friend, arguing with my kids over their responsibilities, sickness, death, hope, engaging in a battle for something you or I care about...it's all spiritual.  My desire is this blog becomes a place to reflect on that commonality and God-willing, perhaps ours perspectives on our own tales can inherently grow more resonant and true with the story we are meant to live.

2.  Why is this blog called "un-churched?" 
  This blog is exploring the idea of what it means to find and experience a dimension of spirituality called "church."  I do not believe "church" is a place.  I believe the church is people, united and bound in the love and affection of our Creator and His Son, Jesus Christ, through the power and abiding influence of His Spirit living in us, to reveal God to a broken, lost, hurting world.  My premise is that it may be time for me to honestly assess my life as a "church lady."   Am I simply participating in a comfy subculture where I can high five and slap butts with my Chrisitan friends?  Maybe I need to get un-churched to really BE the church again.  In other words, a part of this blog is really a year long search to guide my own heart to more resonance with who God created me to be--to live my story.  In the next three years I will launch two of my four kiddos into the world.  After 17 years of being a stay at home mom and dabbling in the church programming of the past two decades, I am wondering what God has been preparing me for next.  I hope this blog helps me sort that out, and perhaps the conversation that happens here can help you sort out where you find yourself in your story too. 

I do love words and writing, though my passion has certainly not influenced my skill.  Over my 44 years, one thing I have learned quite well is that God is really not so interested in what ability I actually bring to the table, but He just loves it when I show up.  So, dear friends, I am here on this blogspot and it really is His spot to move and speak, inspire and challenge.  That is what my theology has taught me about His Spirit living in me.  So I boldly and humbly commission this blog with this simple prayer from Psalm 45:1:  "My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer." 

King Jesus, let it be so.