Why Do I Write?

Do I write to see if I can say the funniest thing about the swine flu? Partly. Do I write because I like to make people cry? Yes, partly. Is it so people will like me? Maybe a little. So maybe I'll be a famous writer one day? Yea right. OK, maybe that too, a little. I think I write mostly because I believe God gave me a lot to say and my sweet Amanda can only listen to so much without going to sleep eventually.



Well, maybe I've survived the swine flu pandemic this far because I have something important to say or do or be. Some days I think I have an idea as to what those "somethings" are, but most days I'm just doing my thing. Playing music, taking some piece of junk and attempting to work it into something of value, cooking, eating, laughing, cleaning, loving, complaining, and hopefully encouraging.




One big reason I write is because my wife told me to. Come to think of it, that's the reason I do just about everything! She's just as smart as she is pretty.

Maybe the point of this is to encourage you to ask yourself why you do what you do. I want to get on the offensive side of my life instead of just reacting to things going on around me. I want to realize all the choices that are available to me and not just settle for the first thing that comes along, or just fall in line with whatever is popular.




My friend Amanda Phillips' dad, Pastor Phil Goldsberry, spoke at church on Sunday and something he said rang a bell. It was "We should not be so much a part of our culture that we fit in without thinking."

I am afraid I work pretty hard to fit in sometimes, when we were never intended to blend in seamlessly with unbelievers. Now I have naturally stuck out most of my life just because that is the way God made me, but not always because of some defining christian value that set me apart. More likely it was because I was sitting at my desk in school and figured out a way to get my hair to stand straight up and make everybody laugh. Not that there isn't a perfectly good reason to do something like that, but I don't think that is the way we are necessarily supposed to be "set apart."

Why do you do what you do? What sets you apart? How did you get to be who you are? Those are a few of the reasons I write. I'm trying to figure this whole thing out. And I'm trying to find as many people as I can to jump in with me and start living like we are dieing. Thank you Tim McGraw.

I want to leave a mark, and I'd rather do it on purpose. The people who make a difference do not do so accidentally for the most part. I want to remind myself that I can roar if I choose to. I want to use all the colors in my life's painting, and I want to encourage you to do the same.

Believe it or not, the photos aren't Ruby Falls, they are from our trip to New York City. This is actually a spring that flows in the middle of Chelsea Market.