Grace Roots Blog
Showing posts with label discussion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discussion. Show all posts
Monday, May 25, 2009
You're invited to join the Grace Roots Ning community!
Many of you know all about the various Ning communities that are out there, and are even members of some of them, as I am (see side column of this blog). A while back I decided to create my own social community - Grace Roots - that is based upon being established in grace, living in grace and growing in grace. I haven't done much with it yet. My "vision" of it is simply an online community where people can encourage one another in God's love and grace. There are various other excellent Ning communities, and my purpose is not to 'compete' with any of them, of course. It's simply to join people together in the pure gospel of grace and peace.
As I said, I haven't done much with this community yet, but that's where you come in! You can share your blog posts there, take part in discussions, post pictures, etc. With a Ning profile, you can have your very own page and customize it to your liking. You can become 'friends' with other people, and even share videos and music. You can send messages to others, share status updates, write on others' walls, share upcoming events, write notes, and so on and so on. Try it out, and let me know what you think! I'm open to your suggestions as to the look and feel of the site, as well as the content, etc.
graceroots.ning.com
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Stages/The conversation goes on...
Nicole posted a great blog called Life Is a Story and it got me thinking about how in many ways life is also an ongoing conversation. What I mean is, the "conversation" of life is part of the process but the conversation is never really "over." We're all growing, we're all doing, we're all waiting, we're all... at different stages in our own personal journeys, and part of the various processes that we're all going through includes discussions and conversations with each other.
Well, my thoughts here aren't exactly turning out like they had been in my head a few moments ago. :) But I think that one thing I'm trying to say is that I've learned that what I have to say or what someone else has to say about any given subject is never the "final word" on the matter. Of course, sometimes the conversation of life does indeed lead to decisive and final action, but I just mean that the conversation of life continues even so.
Arghh. It's still not coming out right. :) But that's one thing I like about blogging... and comments! Sometimes I can just "put it out there" and see what happens. Just like in "real life" conversations you have several people speaking together, working things out together, contributing various thoughts, I think the whole idea of blogging and interacting through comments is wonderful. I may have something on my mind, or you may have something on your mind, and we may blog about it and then others join in the conversation. When I posted my What would you say... blog yesterday, for example, I had a specific point I was trying to make (pointing out the difference between how Jesus interacted with a certain woman and how I've seen many in the church today interact with women in similar shoes). But then in reading the comments from others I realized that there was a much wider array of angles from which to view the whole scenario, and I really enjoyed reading the comments.
I can think of a thousand more examples, but I guess that what I'm trying to really get at is that we have much to share with each other and much to learn from each other.
Speaking of "Stages"... hehehe... This is really just an excuse for me to play one of my favorite videos from the 80's! It's from ZZ Top. There's nothing like two synchronized sunglass-wearing, feet-tapping, guitar-playing, long-bearded men and a non-bearded drummer with the last name "Beard" in a futuristic setting, with the band's Space Shuttle-ized Hot Rod making a brief cameo!
ZZ Top - Stages
Well, my thoughts here aren't exactly turning out like they had been in my head a few moments ago. :) But I think that one thing I'm trying to say is that I've learned that what I have to say or what someone else has to say about any given subject is never the "final word" on the matter. Of course, sometimes the conversation of life does indeed lead to decisive and final action, but I just mean that the conversation of life continues even so.
Arghh. It's still not coming out right. :) But that's one thing I like about blogging... and comments! Sometimes I can just "put it out there" and see what happens. Just like in "real life" conversations you have several people speaking together, working things out together, contributing various thoughts, I think the whole idea of blogging and interacting through comments is wonderful. I may have something on my mind, or you may have something on your mind, and we may blog about it and then others join in the conversation. When I posted my What would you say... blog yesterday, for example, I had a specific point I was trying to make (pointing out the difference between how Jesus interacted with a certain woman and how I've seen many in the church today interact with women in similar shoes). But then in reading the comments from others I realized that there was a much wider array of angles from which to view the whole scenario, and I really enjoyed reading the comments.
I can think of a thousand more examples, but I guess that what I'm trying to really get at is that we have much to share with each other and much to learn from each other.
Speaking of "Stages"... hehehe... This is really just an excuse for me to play one of my favorite videos from the 80's! It's from ZZ Top. There's nothing like two synchronized sunglass-wearing, feet-tapping, guitar-playing, long-bearded men and a non-bearded drummer with the last name "Beard" in a futuristic setting, with the band's Space Shuttle-ized Hot Rod making a brief cameo!
ZZ Top - Stages
Interesting "Shack" discussion
It's funny how our first impressions of people or circumstances can throw us off. :) Yesterday on my way home from work, I was running late and I was hot and I wasn't feeling good. I caught the tail end of a radio program that I don't think I've ever heard. The host of the program was, in my opinion at that moment, talking a bunch of gobbledegook, boring, theological jargon. Since I wasn't feeling well and was hot and tired, I had no time or patience to even try to figure out what the man was trying to say! I quickly changed it to another station that has a different program that I sometimes listen to on my way home from work.
Commercials were running on that station, so I flipped through my presets and eventually landed back again on the Christian station that I had started on. Out of the speakers I heard the man say "The Shack," so I became more attentive. Again, because of my tiredness, my predisposition had been defaulted to a matter of finding out what this man was saying to bash The Shack. I had already listened to Chuck Colson earlier in the day, and I've heard that he's not so hot on The Shack, so I guess in my irritable state I was more predisposed towards prejudice, and I wasn't looking for anything different from this man who had sounded so straight and uptight just a minute earlier.
To my pleasant surprise, however, he didn't seem to be bashing the book at all but was rather talking about wanting to hear what others think of it. In fact, my first impression must have really thrown me off, because the man sounded so much more jovial and relaxed than he had during the few seconds I had previously listened to. Again, this was all at the very tail end of the show, so I have no clue how long he spent on this or what was all said. But he did give a website, which I looked at and found this blog/discussion about The Shack. As is to be expected, the usual complaints/objections about the book are brought up, as well as some really good comments in defense of the book. It appears you can also listen to the full program from yesterday (June 20), which appears to be focused on the topic of the trinity. I haven't listened to it, but perhaps I will if I have more time later.
By the way, for those of you who know me, you may know that up till now I haven't actually read the book. I've read and listened to a LOT of commentary on the book and I've read and listened to several interviews with Paul Young and Wayne Jacobsen regarding the book. I really like what I hear coming from these men. And now... I've actually got the book in hand and I'm actually reading it! I am simply not much for reading fiction of any kind, and that's why I've really enjoyed the theological discussions about the book (even though the book is not designed as a theological book!) and have taken my time at getting the book for myself, but now that I'm reading it I'm really enjoying it.
Commercials were running on that station, so I flipped through my presets and eventually landed back again on the Christian station that I had started on. Out of the speakers I heard the man say "The Shack," so I became more attentive. Again, because of my tiredness, my predisposition had been defaulted to a matter of finding out what this man was saying to bash The Shack. I had already listened to Chuck Colson earlier in the day, and I've heard that he's not so hot on The Shack, so I guess in my irritable state I was more predisposed towards prejudice, and I wasn't looking for anything different from this man who had sounded so straight and uptight just a minute earlier.
To my pleasant surprise, however, he didn't seem to be bashing the book at all but was rather talking about wanting to hear what others think of it. In fact, my first impression must have really thrown me off, because the man sounded so much more jovial and relaxed than he had during the few seconds I had previously listened to. Again, this was all at the very tail end of the show, so I have no clue how long he spent on this or what was all said. But he did give a website, which I looked at and found this blog/discussion about The Shack. As is to be expected, the usual complaints/objections about the book are brought up, as well as some really good comments in defense of the book. It appears you can also listen to the full program from yesterday (June 20), which appears to be focused on the topic of the trinity. I haven't listened to it, but perhaps I will if I have more time later.
By the way, for those of you who know me, you may know that up till now I haven't actually read the book. I've read and listened to a LOT of commentary on the book and I've read and listened to several interviews with Paul Young and Wayne Jacobsen regarding the book. I really like what I hear coming from these men. And now... I've actually got the book in hand and I'm actually reading it! I am simply not much for reading fiction of any kind, and that's why I've really enjoyed the theological discussions about the book (even though the book is not designed as a theological book!) and have taken my time at getting the book for myself, but now that I'm reading it I'm really enjoying it.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Why I blog - Part 2
Since many of us don't actually know each other (in the sense of being physically located near one another), and since many of us have 'met' each other only in recent months or years, I thought I'd give a little bit of background about myself in Part 1, and continuing into Part 2. None of this is necessary, and I don't mean to focus on myself just for the sake of focusing on myself, but I thought it would be neat to share some of my life with my friends here since we don't have the benefit of daily face-to-face, in-person interaction with each other. This is essentially a 'testimony' of what God has done in my life over the years. And all of this does eventually lead to the title of the post!
Built up through engagement with others
I've already shared how I used to spend a great deal of time in Christian forums and chat rooms on the internet. Part of this was addiction, I admit. Sometimes, especially during those early days, I would be online till 2 or 3 am, talking about God's love and grace with anybody who would carry on a conversation with me! It was very rare if I didn't quickly find people with opposing views who I could hash things out with! I'm exaggerating a bit by using the phrase "hash things out." :) I really simply sought to talk about God's grace and I would share lots of scripture, and after I had eventually gotten over my Grace Pharisee stage, I was able to simply leave people to decide for themselves.
Much larger than the addiction aspect of this, however, is that this was also a truly beneficial and formative time for me as I grew in the grace message myself and as I learned more about where other people are coming from in their religious backgrounds. Due to the anonymity of the internet, people are often not so shy to say what they really think! And as I said, some people can be vicious in their interactions with others. Also, some people are good at building straw arguments that leave you either questioning what you've firmly believed, or at least that make it harder to make your own case for what you believe. Many times over the years, I've been cut to the heart. Not so much due to my 'pride' being hurt, but much more often because of my deeply held beliefs being challenged by others, at times in very convincing ways, which would leave me confused about the truth. But through all this, and because of all this, I was sharpened and I was built up in my own understanding of grace and how to share the pure gospel message.
I also found out that to be strong in my beliefs about who I am in Christ I don't need thick skin. Rather, I need a heart of compassion, surrender and humility. When faced with opposition, the temptation is to build walls and to defend your beliefs to the core. But walls keep people out, when really your whole purpose in engaging with others is because you're wanting to invite them in.
My desires have evolved
I can't say that I don't still enjoy having deep, ongoing discussions with people of opposing views from time to time, but something has truly changed in me over the years. Although I still find those types of conversations to be very stimulating, I no longer have a deep desire to "hash things out" over extended periods of time, like I used to.
I'm in more of a place, at this time in life, in which I'm looking more for mutual encouragement in the grace of God with like-minded believers, and I have more of a heart to share the message of the exchanged life* with people who are actually seeking to learn more, rather than with those who are seeking to oppose it. Some might say this is a matter of me having matured, but I'd say it's more of a matter of me having been involved in each of these various activities and stages during the normal course of life. Yes, there's been a maturation process, but who's to say that each stage wasn't exactly where God purposely had me? Just think, in ten years, when we're able to appear to each other in hologram form via our robots (like in Star Wars!), will we look back on our blogging days and say we were simply immature because we weren't interacting with each other in the way we will then? ;)
Anyway, all of this leads to:
How I started blogging
Up until three years ago, I'd had plenty of interaction with people who disagreed with me about what the Christian life is all about. I'm now looking to engage with like-minded believers. I had been praying about this for a long time, and then in early 2005 I came across the Grace Walk Forum. I had known about Grace Walk Ministries since the mid to late 90's, and had visited the website from time to time, but the forum hadn't come into existence until December 2004. Discussing the grace walk openly with like-minded people was like a breath of fresh air for me! Instead of steadfast opposition, I found mutual encouragement and freedom. I met some of you through the forum, and I imagine it's been a great source of encouragement and edification for you too.
It was also through the forum that I met Dave Lesniak, who is the station manager for Grace Walk Internet Radio and who is also the administrator of the forum. It would take a whole 'nother blog post to list all the other things Dave does in regards to networking people within the grace community! In June 2006, Dave posted a question on the forum, asking if anyone had a blog. At the time, I had been prepared to start blogging at myccm.org, but they hadn't launched their site yet. So... with Dave's inspiration I went on over to blogger.com and began blogging!
During the previous year I had been writing formal articles for a church publication, but yet in those articles I was kind of being politically correct. Not that I had gone against what I believed, but I was holding back a lot of what was truly in my heart. But when I began blogging... it was my blog, and for the first time I was free to write about anything I wanted, whether any pastor or church member or anybody agreed with me or not! And I wasn't limited in length. I could write as much or as little as I wanted. I had also previously created the website graceroots.org, and in my mind I was going to use that site for the purpose of writing about grace. However, it wasn't until I came across Blogger, a site created specifically for people to "journal," so to speak, that I was truly inspired to update my writings regularly.
My purpose for blogging
Now that I've been blogging for almost two years, I can see how all that I've shared in this post and in Part 1 have worked together to form my purpose for ongoing blogging. I'm not here to "debate" the message of grace, and I'm not here with any real agenda except to find mutual encouragement in the message of God's grace and unconditional love. I'm here to stand up against legalism, and my hope and prayer (really, it's been my prayer) is to be able to connect like-minded people with each other and to provide a way for those previously caught up in legalism to find some freedom and rest!
I'm also here to learn. Over the years I've become established in the "big picture" of grace and in some of the finer elements too. But I realize I have a lot more learning to do, and one benefit of blogging is that it provides a way for interaction to take place. I'm looking for encouragement, and I also welcome correction and clarification from others within the context of the exchanged life.* That is, if and when you think I'm "off" in some of the finer (or larger) details of what the exchange life* means, I'd love to hear from you because iron sharpens iron.
Not exactly a nutshell here... but this at least explains in general why I blog and why I love reading other "grace" blogs!
----------
*In case you're not familiar with the term "exchanged life," to me it is simply a term that describes the reality and the fullness of the life in Christ that all Christians partake in, whether they fully realize it or not. See this link from the Association of Exchanged Life Ministries (AELM) for an explanation of the origin of the term and the meaning of the term. See also my post from last summer, "10 Exchanged Life truths that will change your life." (I realize that the title of the post is a contradiction of terms!). ;)
A short explanation could be summed up in two things that have been exchanged:
1) I have died, and my life has been exchanged for the very life of Christ.
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Col 3:4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
2) My sin has been taken away and has been exchanged for the very righteousness of God.
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
2 Cor 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us , that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Built up through engagement with others
I've already shared how I used to spend a great deal of time in Christian forums and chat rooms on the internet. Part of this was addiction, I admit. Sometimes, especially during those early days, I would be online till 2 or 3 am, talking about God's love and grace with anybody who would carry on a conversation with me! It was very rare if I didn't quickly find people with opposing views who I could hash things out with! I'm exaggerating a bit by using the phrase "hash things out." :) I really simply sought to talk about God's grace and I would share lots of scripture, and after I had eventually gotten over my Grace Pharisee stage, I was able to simply leave people to decide for themselves.
Much larger than the addiction aspect of this, however, is that this was also a truly beneficial and formative time for me as I grew in the grace message myself and as I learned more about where other people are coming from in their religious backgrounds. Due to the anonymity of the internet, people are often not so shy to say what they really think! And as I said, some people can be vicious in their interactions with others. Also, some people are good at building straw arguments that leave you either questioning what you've firmly believed, or at least that make it harder to make your own case for what you believe. Many times over the years, I've been cut to the heart. Not so much due to my 'pride' being hurt, but much more often because of my deeply held beliefs being challenged by others, at times in very convincing ways, which would leave me confused about the truth. But through all this, and because of all this, I was sharpened and I was built up in my own understanding of grace and how to share the pure gospel message.
I also found out that to be strong in my beliefs about who I am in Christ I don't need thick skin. Rather, I need a heart of compassion, surrender and humility. When faced with opposition, the temptation is to build walls and to defend your beliefs to the core. But walls keep people out, when really your whole purpose in engaging with others is because you're wanting to invite them in.
My desires have evolved
I can't say that I don't still enjoy having deep, ongoing discussions with people of opposing views from time to time, but something has truly changed in me over the years. Although I still find those types of conversations to be very stimulating, I no longer have a deep desire to "hash things out" over extended periods of time, like I used to.
I'm in more of a place, at this time in life, in which I'm looking more for mutual encouragement in the grace of God with like-minded believers, and I have more of a heart to share the message of the exchanged life* with people who are actually seeking to learn more, rather than with those who are seeking to oppose it. Some might say this is a matter of me having matured, but I'd say it's more of a matter of me having been involved in each of these various activities and stages during the normal course of life. Yes, there's been a maturation process, but who's to say that each stage wasn't exactly where God purposely had me? Just think, in ten years, when we're able to appear to each other in hologram form via our robots (like in Star Wars!), will we look back on our blogging days and say we were simply immature because we weren't interacting with each other in the way we will then? ;)
Anyway, all of this leads to:
How I started blogging
Up until three years ago, I'd had plenty of interaction with people who disagreed with me about what the Christian life is all about. I'm now looking to engage with like-minded believers. I had been praying about this for a long time, and then in early 2005 I came across the Grace Walk Forum. I had known about Grace Walk Ministries since the mid to late 90's, and had visited the website from time to time, but the forum hadn't come into existence until December 2004. Discussing the grace walk openly with like-minded people was like a breath of fresh air for me! Instead of steadfast opposition, I found mutual encouragement and freedom. I met some of you through the forum, and I imagine it's been a great source of encouragement and edification for you too.
It was also through the forum that I met Dave Lesniak, who is the station manager for Grace Walk Internet Radio and who is also the administrator of the forum. It would take a whole 'nother blog post to list all the other things Dave does in regards to networking people within the grace community! In June 2006, Dave posted a question on the forum, asking if anyone had a blog. At the time, I had been prepared to start blogging at myccm.org, but they hadn't launched their site yet. So... with Dave's inspiration I went on over to blogger.com and began blogging!
During the previous year I had been writing formal articles for a church publication, but yet in those articles I was kind of being politically correct. Not that I had gone against what I believed, but I was holding back a lot of what was truly in my heart. But when I began blogging... it was my blog, and for the first time I was free to write about anything I wanted, whether any pastor or church member or anybody agreed with me or not! And I wasn't limited in length. I could write as much or as little as I wanted. I had also previously created the website graceroots.org, and in my mind I was going to use that site for the purpose of writing about grace. However, it wasn't until I came across Blogger, a site created specifically for people to "journal," so to speak, that I was truly inspired to update my writings regularly.
My purpose for blogging
Now that I've been blogging for almost two years, I can see how all that I've shared in this post and in Part 1 have worked together to form my purpose for ongoing blogging. I'm not here to "debate" the message of grace, and I'm not here with any real agenda except to find mutual encouragement in the message of God's grace and unconditional love. I'm here to stand up against legalism, and my hope and prayer (really, it's been my prayer) is to be able to connect like-minded people with each other and to provide a way for those previously caught up in legalism to find some freedom and rest!
I'm also here to learn. Over the years I've become established in the "big picture" of grace and in some of the finer elements too. But I realize I have a lot more learning to do, and one benefit of blogging is that it provides a way for interaction to take place. I'm looking for encouragement, and I also welcome correction and clarification from others within the context of the exchanged life.* That is, if and when you think I'm "off" in some of the finer (or larger) details of what the exchange life* means, I'd love to hear from you because iron sharpens iron.
Not exactly a nutshell here... but this at least explains in general why I blog and why I love reading other "grace" blogs!
----------
*In case you're not familiar with the term "exchanged life," to me it is simply a term that describes the reality and the fullness of the life in Christ that all Christians partake in, whether they fully realize it or not. See this link from the Association of Exchanged Life Ministries (AELM) for an explanation of the origin of the term and the meaning of the term. See also my post from last summer, "10 Exchanged Life truths that will change your life." (I realize that the title of the post is a contradiction of terms!). ;)
A short explanation could be summed up in two things that have been exchanged:
1) I have died, and my life has been exchanged for the very life of Christ.
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Col 3:4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
2) My sin has been taken away and has been exchanged for the very righteousness of God.
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
2 Cor 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us , that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Why I blog - Part 1
A while back in a conversation with Aida (I think via our blogs and via email), I mentioned to her that perhaps I'd post a blog about why I blog, or my purposes for blogging. Weblogs (the actual word for which the abbreviated word "blogs" has become far more common) have been around for quite a while but have gained popularity only within the past few years. I've enjoyed sharing the message of God's grace for several years now in various formats including web forums and chat rooms, radio, church settings, etc, but during the almost two years that I've been blogging, I've found this to be what I've enjoyed the most.
What I love discussing with others
I love discussing all kinds of things in life with others, although there are two things in particular that I absolutely love discussing. I think I've put it this way before: If life were college, I'd have a major and a minor. My major would be Grace/Exchanged Life and my minor would be The body of Christ.
I slowly discovered my 'minor' about two or three years ago when I was writing articles for a church publication. My main purpose was to write about grace, and in doing so I found myself being naturally drawn to thinking and writing about how we are all individual and unique members of the body of Christ, and how the body is a unit that is fit together by God's grace to form One body.
I've been discussing my 'major' with others since somewhere around 1995. Through my friend Mike, with whom I co-host Growing in Grace, and through the church he was attending (which my wife and I eventually began attending near the end of 1996), I began to be set free in my relationship with God, through His grace. Being free, I naturally wanted to share this with others! I took every opportunity to talk about this with others. Sometimes this was for the good, and sometimes, looking back, I can see that I've been quite a "Grace Pharisee" at times! (Religiously trying to shove grace down people's throats).
How I began discussing grace with others
My wife and I were first hooked up to the internet (well our computer was, anyway) somewhere around the beginning of 1997. AOL was our internet provider, and with the AOL platform came many chat rooms, including various Christian chat rooms. Before long I found myself addicted to those chat rooms, because I found them to be a wonderful outlet for me to share the message of grace. We were soon able to ditch AOL for a broadband connection (back when broadband was still new), and I was saddened to lose the AOL chat rooms but I quickly discovered Yahoo! Chat. I also found various Christian Usenet forums. While not the same as instant chat, I very much enjoyed having ongoing conversations with others in these forums.
In these chat rooms and forums, I debated, discussed, had fun, made friends... and even made "enemies." I did not debate just for the sake of debate. Like most people, I'm not a huge fan of tension - especially for the sake of tension. But I would debate and discuss, and get myself involved in deep and complex conversations, for the purpose of sharing what I believed to be truth - and for the purpose of learning from others. I considered myself to be quite the diplomat, and other people - even those who disagreed with me - would tell me the same thing. When I say "diplomat," I don't mean it in the sense that I would work to find common ground or "balance" between legalism and grace (because there is none!), but rather in the sense that I would work to build dialog between disagreeing parties rather than simply shutting out people who didn't agree with me. I made friends with homosexuals, atheists, legalists, you name it, and I had many great conversations with them.
No, it wasn't always a peachy bed of roses! Some people can be very vicious in their interactions with others, especially online! But all in all I enjoyed my decade or so of forum and chat room discussions. I still pop in to some of them from time to time to 'promote' the message of God's grace and unconditional love, but it's rare.
As I said, I've also been involved in various face to face discussions in church and small group settings over the years. Most of these discussions have been pleasant, but there have been a few times when it's gotten a little hairy.
I don't know how many millions of words I've exchanged with others over the years in discussions about grace and the exchanged life, but I do know that I've been edified and built up in the Lord through them. Opposition has caused me to dig deep into what I believe and why I believe it, and to seek God for answers, and truth. I've learned a great deal from others and I've learned a great deal through my own research that has resulted from my interactions with others.
I knew that this would be long, and I'm ultimately leading up to my own personal purposes for blogging, so I guess I'll make this into a two part post!
What I love discussing with others
I love discussing all kinds of things in life with others, although there are two things in particular that I absolutely love discussing. I think I've put it this way before: If life were college, I'd have a major and a minor. My major would be Grace/Exchanged Life and my minor would be The body of Christ.
I slowly discovered my 'minor' about two or three years ago when I was writing articles for a church publication. My main purpose was to write about grace, and in doing so I found myself being naturally drawn to thinking and writing about how we are all individual and unique members of the body of Christ, and how the body is a unit that is fit together by God's grace to form One body.
I've been discussing my 'major' with others since somewhere around 1995. Through my friend Mike, with whom I co-host Growing in Grace, and through the church he was attending (which my wife and I eventually began attending near the end of 1996), I began to be set free in my relationship with God, through His grace. Being free, I naturally wanted to share this with others! I took every opportunity to talk about this with others. Sometimes this was for the good, and sometimes, looking back, I can see that I've been quite a "Grace Pharisee" at times! (Religiously trying to shove grace down people's throats).
How I began discussing grace with others
My wife and I were first hooked up to the internet (well our computer was, anyway) somewhere around the beginning of 1997. AOL was our internet provider, and with the AOL platform came many chat rooms, including various Christian chat rooms. Before long I found myself addicted to those chat rooms, because I found them to be a wonderful outlet for me to share the message of grace. We were soon able to ditch AOL for a broadband connection (back when broadband was still new), and I was saddened to lose the AOL chat rooms but I quickly discovered Yahoo! Chat. I also found various Christian Usenet forums. While not the same as instant chat, I very much enjoyed having ongoing conversations with others in these forums.
In these chat rooms and forums, I debated, discussed, had fun, made friends... and even made "enemies." I did not debate just for the sake of debate. Like most people, I'm not a huge fan of tension - especially for the sake of tension. But I would debate and discuss, and get myself involved in deep and complex conversations, for the purpose of sharing what I believed to be truth - and for the purpose of learning from others. I considered myself to be quite the diplomat, and other people - even those who disagreed with me - would tell me the same thing. When I say "diplomat," I don't mean it in the sense that I would work to find common ground or "balance" between legalism and grace (because there is none!), but rather in the sense that I would work to build dialog between disagreeing parties rather than simply shutting out people who didn't agree with me. I made friends with homosexuals, atheists, legalists, you name it, and I had many great conversations with them.
No, it wasn't always a peachy bed of roses! Some people can be very vicious in their interactions with others, especially online! But all in all I enjoyed my decade or so of forum and chat room discussions. I still pop in to some of them from time to time to 'promote' the message of God's grace and unconditional love, but it's rare.
As I said, I've also been involved in various face to face discussions in church and small group settings over the years. Most of these discussions have been pleasant, but there have been a few times when it's gotten a little hairy.
I don't know how many millions of words I've exchanged with others over the years in discussions about grace and the exchanged life, but I do know that I've been edified and built up in the Lord through them. Opposition has caused me to dig deep into what I believe and why I believe it, and to seek God for answers, and truth. I've learned a great deal from others and I've learned a great deal through my own research that has resulted from my interactions with others.
I knew that this would be long, and I'm ultimately leading up to my own personal purposes for blogging, so I guess I'll make this into a two part post!
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