Every once in a while, I like to check in on what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. I want my time and priorities to reflect what I believe and value, so it’s important for me to evaluate from time to time. I do this with my work, my relationships, my hobbies, and more. It helps me stay focused. And I think that now is as good a time as any to apply this practice to my blog.

This site has taken many forms since its creation. As I’ve grown as a person, the blog has evolved in turn. Its format, topics, and schedule have varied drastically over the years, and I think it’s gotten to a point where I have a pretty good idea of what it is (at least for now). At this point in my amateur blogging career, I’m trying to do three main things with my writing.

First of all, I just want to share with others the things I’ve learned and still am learning on my own journey. I’m a fairly introspective person, so putting my thoughts and reflections into a written form is helpful for me. And through sharing online, I’ve learned that my writing can be helpful for others as well. I’m really grateful for the opportunity to take what I’ve learned and offer it to you, and I don’t take it lightly.

They say it’s best to learn from the experiences of others so that you don’t have to go through them all yourself. I’ve had my fair share of both success and failure, so I hope that others can learn from my stories as I share them. If my writing can help one person learn something they wouldn’t have otherwise, that alone is worth it to me.

I write to encourage others to think theologically.

There are a lot of ways of looking at different situations. Some people are optimists, while others are pessimists. Some are practical, others idealistic. Sometimes, a topic needs to considered from a bird’s-eye view, while other times, a more zoomed-in, nuanced approach is necessary. I think all of these approaches have their merits, but none of them have any value if they don’t take into account the ethical, moral, and theological issues at the root of every situation.

Here, I’m speaking specifically to those who, like me, claim to follow Jesus Christ. To my readers who don’t, I hope you find my writings on theology to be valuable, but I understand if they don’t always connect with you. Much of my writing now is inside communication from one Christian to many others, and all I’m trying to do is ask the simple question, “What does God think of this?” It’s not always an easy question to answer, but we’re called to wrestle with it day in and day out. I’m here to do the hard work, and I’m here to remind the church to do so as well.

I’m convinced that what the world needs right now is more compassion. If we each took the time to consider life from other peoples’ perspectives rather than getting so caught up in our own experiences and opinions, we’d each have a much more wholistic and beneficial outlook. The value of taking into account the experience of another cannot be understated. It literally has the power to change the world.

So I challenge myself to practice compassion in everything I do. From daily encounters at work to major news stories and everything in-between, I do everything I can to see things from the perspectives of others, and it’s made a huge difference in how I live my life. That’s why I talk about it so much here. Not only do I need to remind myself constantly of my commitment to practicing compassion towards, but I also want everyone else to know the fulfillment that comes from it, too. There’s nothing like it. I hope that through my writing, I can continue to share more and more compassion and see the effect that it has on me, on you, and on the world at large.

We’re all works-in-progress. I don’t claim to have life figured out any more than anyone else. But here I am, a work-in-progress, sharing my journey with my fellow works-in-progress in hopes that we can learn from each other, challenge each other, and together create a better, more compassionate world.

That’s my goal with this blog. I’m proud of what it’s become, and I appreciate you for coming along on the journey with me. Whether you agree or disagree on an issue, whether you love a particular post or hate it, whether my articles make you think or just make you think I’m weird, I’m glad you’re here. I’m going to keep working towards these goals with my writing, and I hope you’ll continue to join me here week after week. I’m not going anywhere; I know why I’m here. So let’s do this.

I write to share what I’m learning.

I write to encourage others to think theologically.

I write to share compassion and call others to do the same.