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In the movie, Forrest Gump, Forrest starts running.
He says in the movie, “That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run.” Forrest ran for three years, two months, 14 days, and 16 hours.
Then he stopped.
On March 19, 2020, I began writing Interruptions – at least six days a week since then and today is #765. I feel a bit like Forrest Gump in that I started writing – but I haven’t stopped yet.
Today, I pause to explain why I write a blog.
In Interruption #1, I explained that I loved walking around the church (where I was the pastor) and interrupting people (yes, interrupting is a lifelong defect of mine.).
With the church not meeting in our building because of COVID-19, I couldn’t walk around interrupting conversations. So, I decided to write a blog posted early in the morning – to continue interrupting the lives, thoughts, and actions of church members.
The scripture verse that motivates my writing is Romans 12:1, a verse that I memorized in 1972 and has been a major theme in my life.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (NASB1995).
C.S. Lewis said that if you want to be a writer, “Sit down and start writing.”
I think this motto applies to my blogging. I get up early in the morning and write. I’ve found that my best time to write is between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. I don’t have a plan before I write and my topics are in-the-moment and streaming from 49 years of past sermons, experiences as a pastor, and books that I have read.
My first blogs averaged about 150 to 200 words; they now average 500 to 600 words.
The writing style in my blog yields short paragraphs accentuated by short sentences. When I read other blogs on hand-held devices, long paragraphs and sentences cause my mind to drift.
So, I write short sentences. And some of my paragraphs are too long in this blog!
I think too much. I ask questions and I doubt! Interruptions isn’t about spinning doubts that lead to more doubts. I ask questions, identify my doubts, and work through to joy.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance (James 1:2-3).
A place of joy can be found in all difficulties.
Too many bloggers and writers today enjoy wallowing in their discouragement – and I believe Satan uses the doubt of our age to create a lukewarm faith that is more about “why” than hope.
Undergirding my writing is an opposition to “progressive theology.” This theology seeks to reform the Christian faith via new thinking from modernism, emphasizing “our story” over the historical facts and teaching of actual scripture.
HHHHMMMHHHM – another too-long paragraph but fortunately followed by a short sentence.
I use humor to point out that “progressive theology” is actually “regressive theology” going all the way back to Satan tempting Eve to doubt God’s words. Uh-oh, this thought is almost too serious for Interruptions.
Topics in Interruptions can be anything. I love writing Psalms On Saturday, about topics like the Red Heifer, how science supports the Bible, and random ideas like Miggy Moments (read #215).
A final note.
I write HHHHMMMHHM a lot. A faithful reader of Interruptions once challenged me that I was inconsistent in spelling HHHHMMMHHM. That my number of “h’s” and “m’s” varied in length and order from Interruption to Interruption.
I checked and she was right! I have now codified HHHHMMMHHM as 4 h’s, 3 m’s, 2 h’s, and 1 m. A descending order of h’s and m’s.
I appreciate it when readers respond to me, even when I’m wrong.
Please, help increase readers by sending in names of those you know who would benefit from reading Interruptions (whether they know it or not). (Be careful of forwarding Interruptions because if the person unsubscribes you will be unsubscribed!)
No greater tribulation – being unsubscribed from Interruption in these last days.
Uh-oh – 705 words today!