what are we doing?

i'm getting fairly addicted to this blogging thing, right? i read others' blogs first thing in the a.m., check my email and "site counter" (i'm embarassed my ego's so tied up in how many hits i get) before bed. remember last week's entry about spending more time w/ wife + child? principle still stands. and, to be absolutely clear, i know what i'm doing on rough draft isn't anywhere close to "important," i.e., my posts reveal a predilection for the mundane, trite, everyday and new-england-sports-related, although i like to think i do a little original thinking on here from time to time. and i've gotten a few emails from people who have read some of the posts and comments and felt themselves blessed by them in some way, be it intellectually, spiritually, whatever.

but here's my thought this particular a.m. (i'm a little addled b/c ellie's b'day party was both wildly successful and tiring for parents and daughter alike). what exactly are we doing when we spill electronic ink on these pages? the "blog" feels more like the door @ wittenberg where an agenda was proposed than the ecclesiastical fora where that agenda was hammered out. i've found i still need my porch and a real person to hash ideas out once i start to think about them b/c of some stray comment in my or some other blog. and while i'm doing this strictly for entertainment, not as a genuine member of the fourth estate, george packer's "the revolution will not be blogged" in mother jones seems to recognize a similar truth out there. despite an acknowledged addiction to blogs, packer writes of them: "read them enough and any subject will go dead."

i'm not proposing that we boycott the blog. i'm most certainly not telling you to stop reading the drivel i write (please do not! what would become of my already low self-esteem were it not for the eleven or so faithful readers who hit me every day??), and i'll keep writing, as much for my own curiosity than for informational purposes. i'm not apt to quit reading open book or phoenix rising or correction or mr. otis or any of my other regular haunts any time soon (links @ left). but i guess i'm recognizing that i still need to get real newsprint on my fingers; i still need my porch swing (i've got a rocker out there now, too!), guinness and someone to talk to; i still need c. s. lewis, tom howard, first things, bonhoeffer, kierkegaard (even though i don't understand a damn thing he wrote), david wells (even though he gave me a B in systematic theology), augustine, n. t. wright and -- most importantly -- the inspired authors (and Author) of scripture. without something else, blogging is just so much internet "porn" in that it serves the purpose of mental masturbation, but there's still no "there" there. no real relationships are involved. i mean, i love you guys, but who are we kidding? our real communities are our families, churches, civic groups, bible studies, book clubs, even circles of old pols swilling coffee @ the local cafe' moaning about a red sox september collapse (knock wood) or the price of eggs in china and gas @ the corner fillin' station (if you don't know what that is, you don't live in mississippi).

but that's just a thought. i could be wrong. remember sam's axiom: in any given conundrum, ask "what would sammy do?" then do the opposite. more likely than not, you'll be right. that rule even works for me!