Bloggy mountain breakdown?

I'm going to take another shot at what this piece of work is, and why I do what I do. This blog is about humility, vulnerability, honesty, and perhaps most of all, it is about a sincere love of God and what that looks like in a humble (arguable), vulnerable (unquestionable), honest (arguable) and sincere (without question) servant of the God most high.

Whew. That's a long-winded piece of work to say, this is how I feel. I've begun to see and hear that some folks don't like this work. Interestingly, I'm told that some don't like it and they've not read it.

Here's the deal: I understand and accept those who don't like what I write or even that I write but only if they read it first. I understand that sometimes people read it and don't seem to get what I am writing. I still believe the Apostle Paul suffers from some of that, and no, I don't equate what I do with what he did. I'm simply saying that what you mean to say when you write a sentence is sometimes misunderstood. It's the way of the writer.

I take on difficult subjects sometimes, I take on personal subjects sometimes, I take on happy, happy, happy subjects sometimes. I use scripture as a basis, I use a newspaper as a basis, I use life (after all, that's the name of it) as the basis.

And through it all I mean only the best. I really do. The notion that I am cruel, or that I am judgmental in a personal manner is just not who I think I am or have ever been.

Understand this: I've written more than 1,000 blogs over four-plus years with more than 30,000 hits on the blog. Before that, I wrote thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of words for newspapers across the country, and that doesn't take into account the hundreds of thousands of words I edited for newspaper across the country or the many, many pages I designed for even the nation's largest newspaper, USA TODAY.

And during all that time, I remember only a couple of persons ever getting verbally upset with me. And those folks were anything but Christians, believe me.

I was reading scripture this morning, which led to some of these words, and I read this:
About a year after King Josiah of Judah had turned the nation toward repentance from the widespread idolatrous practices of his father and grandfather, Jeremiah’s sole purpose was to reveal the sins of the people and explain the reason for the impending disaster (destruction by the Babylonian army and captivity), “And when your people say, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'" God’s personal message to Jeremiah, “Attack you they will, overcome you they can’t,”was fulfilled many times in the Biblical narrative, Jeremiah was attacked by his own brothers,beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet, imprisoned by the king, threatened with death, thrown into a cistern by Judah’s officials,and opposed by a false prophet.

Now, nearly as I can figure or best I can remember, none of that has happened to this pastor/blog writer. And Jeremiah was, in a lot of ways, a very early blogger.

Listen, I know I've ruffled feathers, and I've made some dear folks mad, even as I've given general support and love to other dear folks. Sometimes in the same blog.

For those whom I've ruffled, there are times I mean to. There are times I mean to make you think, reason, even hurt. For those I've supported your position on things, hang around long enough and I might take the other side.

None of what I do is done without love. I really, really, really mean that.

I remember once a dear woman said of my ministry, preaching, etc.; "The reason I like you, is you're sincere. You might be a mess, but you're sincere."

I took that as a compliment.

Again, not equating myself with anyone else, but Jesus loved even while upsetting tables. Jesus loved even while re-inventing what was perceived as religion. Jesus loved even while eating with the unclean, with sinners, with tax collectors.

I have great amounts of trouble tuning out criticism, even valid criticism. I admit that, and that's part of the messy life I lead.

But I have opinions. I give them. If you really, really don't like me or the blog, or even me doing the blog, here's the key ... don't read it.

But if you don't like me or the blog but really want to take a chance that some fine day you might be moved, or you might challenged, or you might changed. Just might.

That's why I do it. For both of us.