Howdy small spinning sphere of my influence…

…or at least a perceived influence, how much I actually have is left to be determined.

First off, sorry for the long delay in writing. Following our trip to Europe, I’ve been swamped with playing catch-up, add to that each member of my little clan getting side-swiped with sickness, and you have things that get put on the proverbial “back burner,” blogging being one of them.

In any case, I’m back to my goal of weekly updates. In this issue, it strikes me at how amazing “blogging” has become; the bizzar fact that people would begin to share intimate details about their lives on a global forum, and for the most part not even think about it (BLOG = web log). I guess that opinion comes from being a youth pastor where “MySpace” and “FaceBook” are words of the day; students won’t talk about how they feel in the open…but they’ll MySpace about it (we even have new verbs now). Oddly enough, in one of our local high schools, the police sit in the library, read students blogs, and make arrests, using the information on their site as evidence. It actual stands up in court.

Smart policeman, dumb teen.

My goal today is not to highlight the negative aspects, but those in which blogging is building amazing communities online, infrastructure which is helping to unite people with common vision and pursuit; getting the word out about worthy products and causes; the power of one becoming the power of a throng; even support groups for people that habitually use semicolons too much. (;)

If you shoot on over to the Tsaba House Authors Blog, of which I’m a member, the current two posts, one from Teresa Slack, the next from Molly Nobel Bull, each have to do with “blog tours,” an ingenious concept. The Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour is something I’ve recently joined and seen noted success from in terms fan-based readership. And browsing through any number of the authors listed here on my blog will have you lost for hours in reading. (My biggest problem with browsing people’s blogs?: the amount of time it sucks up from my day…and I don’t even realize it’s gone!).

I recently was “tagged” in a “blog game” by Becky Miller, to list 8 interesting facts about myself, and then tag 8 other friend. The first rule of the game, however, is to post the rules of the game. Here they are:

 

Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1.) I never went to college. I had a free ride to a few school, including the Naval Academy (my sudden 20/20 change to 20/200 was pre-laser surgery and prevented me from going), but felt God calling me down a different road.

2.) I only “really read” four books in high school: Lord of The Flies, Hamlet, Catcher In The Rye, and To Kill A Mockingbird. I hated reading. Why I’m a published author today, only God knows. But needless to say, I finally caught “the reading bug.” (It just takes longer for other people…I’m a late bloomer, OK?).

3.) My first over seas experience was at age 7. My daddy took me to Portugal for a studio recording project and church ministry tour.

4.) I had been to over 25 countries by the age of 25.

5.) I’ve only ever had three formal piano lessons. Reading music was almost as bad as reading books. Why I’m a singer/songwriter with 8 albums out, God only knows. (Perhaps it is that he chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise?).

6.) My favorite dog was named MacGuyver. He had only three legs and lived 14 wonderful years. (Hey Steve and Jacqui: he was the best dog…)

7.) I was chased by a wild African ostrich around a tree for ten minutes in the bush of South Africa.

8.) I used to be terrified of horses. Then I made myself take lessons from a friend for two years, just to get over it. Little did I know that five years later, I would marry a woman who had been riding since she was four. I love you, Jenny!

What can I say…God knows what He’s doing, even with a book-reading-impaired, music-scoring-challenged, horse-fearing-nut-case guy like me. And if He can change all that in me, imagine what He can do with you!

Thanks for spending some time with me today,

CH

TAG! You’re it! Chris Deanne, Bill Snodgrass, C.S. Harmon, Elliot Hanowski, Gene Curtis, Grace Bridges, Florinda, Hanna Sandvig