Sermon Notes

It doesn't feel as scary as it once did to write on this blog, knowing my audience is down to just a handful of readers, even though it's always been the same: exposing the diary of my thoughts on the internet. 

I've been writing here (albeit sporadically) for 15 years now, and when I go back and read my old blog posts, I have the realization:

This is how you can know me. 

It's like looking through a box of my old CDs or the notes I passed back-and-forth to friends in middle school. Nostalgic. Often embarrassing. My voice in every post. 

For the past decade, I've spent time each morning reading the Bible, drinking coffee, sometimes journaling, and often re-reading my sermon notes. I've actually mentioned this habit several times on my blog, so it's interesting to look back and realize the impact its had on my life. 

A few years ago I had the brilliant idea that I would write a daily devotional and publish it for my children (or rather for my child - singular - since I only had one at the time). I'm not sure "devotional" is the best word for what I was planning to write, but I can't really think of what else to call it, and ultimately, it doesn't really matter since I never even wrote it. But I envisioned writing down an intimate collection of my daily thoughts, wisdoms, and life lessons. 

A-la Streams in the Desert.

If you don't know Streams in the Desert, here's the description I found online:

Streams in the Desert offers wisdom and insight for applying Biblical truths to the ups and downs of everyday life. 

I spent a year reading these short, daily wisdoms each morning in Streams in the Desert - often a Bible verse, a hymn, a story, or a prayer. Inspired, once the year ended I purchased other devotionals that had good reviews, but everything kept falling short. When I had read Streams in the Desert, each day's wisdom seemed to offer up exactly what I needed in that moment, almost in a divine sense. It fueled my soul and quenched a thirst. Like a stream....in the desert.

So after trying and failing to find a devotional that inspired me as much as Streams in the Desert, I decided I would just write my own. When I read the Bible and flipped through old sermon notes each morning, I almost always found a little gem - something small but powerfully applicable to my life. This had been my habit for the better part of a decade, so I figured I could start sharing these revelations by writing (or re-writing) down these notes.

The best part of my plan was that my child would one day be able to read a collection of my thoughts. The worst part of my plan was that the collection of my thoughts could more accurately be described as a collection of my pastor's thoughts, since most of my notes were based on sermons he so graciously preached and I so dutifully transcribed.

I've sat on it a few years. I've mulled over it. I've talked myself out of it numerous times. 

Are my thoughts underwhelming? Probably. Will I come across as preachy? Know thyself. What wisdoms can I offer? I'm still young(ish). 

Also, I just like writing things that are light and funny, and this was decidedly not that. 

But I started occasionally writing notes down, here and there. I'll save them in a Word document. I e-mail them to myself.  I'm typing them up to get them out of my head - in a more coherent fashion than my scribbled notebook - if for no other reason: for my children.

This is how you can know me.

Since I could die at any moment (morbid thought; nothing new) and I am 100% certain that Brian won't go searching through my e-mails, journals, or anything on my computer when I'm gone, I fear that these thoughts could die with me. So I decided it best to share them here on my blog (maybe each weekday morning if you're lucky). It may be weird since it's not my usual blog format and they'll be interspersed with my normal content. Perhaps I'll create a page on my blog to compile them, but I'm not techy. One day I hope to gather them all up and publish a book, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

All this to say, I'll be sharing my sermon notes. You've been warned.