Thursday, January 1, 2015

2014

So I resolved to post atleast one blog post a month for 2014.  I was faithful in that until life happened.


After a hectic period of time which included a move, I considered coming back to the blog, but decided against it.  My blog posts and sermons; my messages in general.  I hoped for them to be more effective.  I had no interest in speaking into the wind.  I wanted more than to speak to an unidentified audience.    

Instead of speaking I decided to be quiet and spend time learning.  I decided to spend some time studying leaders.  I  read books, essays, and opinions on subjects ranging from Reverend Ralph Abernathy to Florida State legend Bobby Bowden.  I spent some time traveling and talking to people.  More importantly, I spent time listening to people.  I stopped focusing on what I want to tell people, and started asking what people need to hear.  

I kept reading.  I read the words of Martin Luther King Jr. as he talked about a need to speak because silence was a betrayal.  I read from different leaders their strategies for approaching difficult but needed conversations.  I attempted to understand how to best lead and how to not take failure personally.  

I continue to read.  While I read I attempt to craft what needs to be said, and how it needs to be presented.  I look for the words to speak to a country divided by racial, political, social, and economic lines.  I search for the best way to speak to the focus the Church has lost; the focus it needs to regain.  I consider the outcome I desire from speaking and suddenly committing to a number of blog posts or an artificially imposed quota loses all meaning.  

I say all that to say that I did not forget about my pledge to write 12 blog posts in 2014; I outgrew the commitment.

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