Interesting Stats Time

This is the actual graph for the past month

Here's the latest.

The top 3 most visited posts of the past month are:
Be What You Are
Generate Good
Trifecta

Many hits are just a result of Google image searches.  I don't know if it means the person actually went to the site, or if the picture just pulled up in Google search.  That's how I found the pic, so it's originally linked to something else.  I don't track my own page views, so I'm not adding to the count.

It's interesting to look at each posts individual page views.  Some posts have less than 10, especially lately.  It looks like the average is closer to 20, but there are a few that have huge numbers.
Will's last 2 posts Is Your Child Spiritually Prepared and Chik-fil-heyyyyy were in the 40's, as was Turn the Other Cheek?.  When Should You Leave Your Church got up to 148 views.  Generate Good reached 230 and Trifecta hit 369!  Of course, those last 2 have been posted the longest and again, I'm assuming a lot of those were from Google image searches since I see that site routinely show up in the Traffic Sources.  


I don't know how to divide actual readers from google image searchers, but it says to me that putting a lot of pictures in the blog can increase viewing, and the ones with the highest numbers were probably the most read also.

Bloggers Blog about Blogging

A little over a year ago, I wrote a post entitled A Blog About Blogging.  In that post, I lamented the lack of responses 'we' were getting.  I say we because my intention with this blog has never been to unilaterally dictate my thoughts to an audience, but rather for us all to raise interesting questions/topics and have a discussion about them.  Additionally, I don't 'monetize' this site so it can be plainly and purely about the marketplace of thoughts and ideas.

However, responses rarely happen.

I've noticed the same phenomenon on the blogs of those who have much wider circles of contacts, and even the blogs of some fairly well-known national personalities.  Additionally, I've commented on the blogs of those who seem to have like-minded worldviews and even then often don't get a response back from the blogger!  It seems very odd to me.


So it has made me wonder lately about the feasiblility of having a bloggers blog.

Obviously, those who blog enjoy doing so.  Many may just want to get information out about what their family is up to, or post some pictures.  But others seem to want to have a discussion about various important topics.  They enjoy give and take on debating issues.  

What if there was a blog that was just made up of bloggers?  Combine various like-minded bloggers into one site.  Seek out those who feel similarly get them to trade unilateral control for greater interaction.  I think that's what I've tried to do here by inviting everyone I know that I think may be interested to be an 'author' on this site.

On the Blog About Blogging, Will mentioned a theory he has about lack of commenting that's related to talk shows.  He said a lot of people listen, but very few (percentage-wise) call in.  Maybe that's true.  But I feel certain that there are those out there who, like me - and Steve, and maybe Micah - want to exchange thoughts and ideas in a convenient method like blogging.  Not just getting their own ideas out there, but having interaction with others about the thoughts of the group.

Any comments?

Fear and Self-centeredness

Will directed me to a Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) blog where the author was making the case that in order to actually BE great, you have to not CARE about being great.  In other words - get the focus off of yourself and onto whatever it is that you are making your life's work or mission.  

That made me think about my theory of public speaking.

It's pretty widely accepted that public speaking is the average person's greatest fear. Death is reportedly a distant second.  Whether or not this is verifiably true is completely irrelevant to this post, because I want to talk about what's behind this particular fear, and how it may translate to other fears.  

We all have felt this fear in one way or another.  Whether it's before a large audience, small group, or maybe just giving a presentation to 1 or 2 others.  Why is this?  People rarely throw tomatoes anymore.  Maybe your job depends on presenting things effectively before others.  That would be a better, but I think less common, reason for anxiety.  When you have to publicly speak, do you just try to get through it, trying to ignore the anxiety?  What if we acknowledge it?  Will it only grow?  Well, it's a fact anyway, so let's discuss strategies for overcoming it.

I was on my way to a group meeting recently.  I am not the official leader of this group, but I began to think about how I could influence it, help it run better, what I could say, how I would appear, I, me, myself....suddenly I realized my entire focus was on myself, not the group at all.  I felt as though I was being told - get the focus off of you and onto the good of the others.  This was actually a great relief.  When I began to be more intentionally focused on what I could do to further the group, connect with individuals, meet needs, and facilitate interaction - as opposed to how I would appear - I felt released to do what was necessary, rather than what made me look good.

I think this is the same dynamic that operates when publicly speaking.  We are mostly concerned with how we look, sound, how it's being received, what the audience thinks of us, than we are with simply relaying the pertinent information and effectively engaging the audience.  

I think that 1) the degree to which we focus on ourselves, and 2) being comfortable before an audience are inversely proportional.  When self-focus goes up, comfort goes down, and vice-versa.  

Another related topic is irrational fear.  I think this ties in through an anxiety cycle, or self-fulfilling expectations.

These fears don't make logical sense, yet they are real for the person experiencing them.  My wife doesn't like riding on elevators.  It didn't matter how many 'safe' elevator rides she had, or how many times I told her that was irrational - she doesn't like riding on elevators!  I have many people that come into the clinic that are afraid of needles, of getting an IV.  Some have actually passed out!  Is it from pain?  Of course not.  It was an irrational fear that manifested in a psychosomatic way as a result of anxiety.  

What's the connection?

Only the fact that if we have experienced anxiety in a setting before (public speaking), we anticipate experiencing it again the next time it comes up, and then fulfill our expectation of that event, even before it happens.  Actually, much like the IV-phobes, the anticipation can be much worse than the event.

Thus the saying:  There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.

How true.

Some may prefer to ignore anxieties and fears due to discomfort, but I find that addressing them head-on gives some sense of power and control to me.  

Another interesting and related topic would be:  what do we do when our emotions are in complete disagreement with logic and reason?

Are you INappropriately content?

Where are you in life?  
What road are you on?  
Where are you going?  
Are you really where you want to be?  

Some may read these questions and say, 'Heck no, I'm definitely not happy with where I'm at'.  But my guess is that most of us naturally think, 'Sure, I'm about where I should be.  I'm making the best of my circumstances.  I don't really have many options anyway.'

It's kind of like the person who doesn't really like their job, or their boyfriend/girlfriend, but thinks, 'There's probably nothing out there any better for me anyway.  Besides, why take a chance on losing what I've got just to chase after a hope or an ideal.'  They settle.  

But isn't being discontent wrong biblically?  Depends.  Paul tells us in Phil. 4 that he's learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  Was he settling?  No, that man was on an epic, world-changing adventure.  He was accepting of the crazy hardships and struggles that the adventure brought his way.  It was worth it.  Hebrews 13 tells us to be content, but in what context?  Regarding the love of money.   If our ladder is on the wall of material success, watch out!  Some people, craving money, have wandered from true faith and impaled themselves (1 Tim. 6).

It's so easy in America to settle into a decent job, have all the necessities and a few luxuries, and think 'this is it, I'm secure, life is smooth'.  Cautious and/or lazy and/or apathetic.  
No adventure, no risk, no daring greatly.

"Complacency is the deadly enemy of spiritual progress. The contented soul is the stagnant soul."  The Size of the Soul, A.W. Tozer

The Power of Music

Music.

Emotion.

Energy.

The mechanics of vibrating strings on a guitar or piano cycling at a certain hertz - 440 for A - combined with E, a dominant 5th.  Make the 3rd or 7th flat for a minor key and get a whole new sonic texture - or 'harmony'.  8 notes in a scale, including the octave - which cycles exactly twice or half as much.

A rhythm to drive the process.  Bass as a mediator between the beat and the melody.  

Ipods, boomboxes, orchestras, to stadium PA's - WE LOVE OUR MUSIC!

What is is about music that has the power to incite a range of emotions from sadness to elation?  Where does 'music' come from?  Why do certain combinations of notes and chords and melodies appeal to us?  What is music exactly?  Is God the ultimate author of all things musical?

Explode Your Brain

Explode:  to expand with force

How Do We Perceive Color

Click on above link to watch YouTube video.

Why do I want you to watch this?  
Because it shows how we naturally come to accept as mundane, what is actually incredibly intricate, complex, fascinating and ultimately mysterious.  Something as simple as viewing a leaf takes on a whole new dimension.  Of course, the opposite can be said as well.  What is so incomprehensibly complex, and open to controversy between philosophy and science, can be so readily and simply understood at a basic level though experience.

In a sense, we are living in 'The Matrix'.

Reality is as much a product of how we perceive it, as it is the material world itself.

Can spiritual realities really be that hard to believe?

'Regular' life is a testament to the vast unknowns of what God has done.

Life Support

Anemia:  A condition in which the body does not have enough healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells provide oxygen to body tissues.

I like this word.   
Not because it's such a positive word - it's not.  It's a word that indicates weakness.  But it is a powerful word in that it succinctly describes a multi-symptomatic condition. 

I think many of us live anemic lives, full of anemic relationships.  

Medical lesson
Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood.  It's commonly caused by:  blood loss (such as through hemorrhage), excessive blood cell destruction, or deficient red cell production.  It leads to hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen, in the body.  All cells in the human body need oxygen in order to function; therefore, hypoxia has a wide range of symptomatic consequences.  

The most common symptom is weakness, or fatigue.  

Relational lesson
Let's see if we can apply all of this to relationships.

Poor relationships are a common disorder.  They are caused by:  ignorance, apathy and laziness leading to a lack of love.  All people need love (from God and for one another) in order to function; therefore, a failure to cultivate relationships has a wide range of symptomatic consequences.

The most common symptom is a weak spiritual life.

Our relationships, much like the organs in our body, may be receiving just enough to maintain a weak viability.  But then they will also be under-served, under distress, and under-performing. 

Who wants that?

What's the cure?

Here's what I think.

We have to be intentional about our relationships, not just with God, but also with each other.  There's a reason that Jesus said everything in the bible is summed up in loving God and loving others.  Those 2 things are linked.  But it doesn't just happen.  It takes things like:  work, vulnerability, inconvenience, pain.  But I think it can also be:  invigorating, satisfying, meaningful and beautiful.  Our flesh hates that first list, but our spirit knows the second list is true and right.  The first list is temporary, the second list resonates through eternity.  We should be heaven-bent on a quest to subdue our flesh, and force it to do the things our spirit knows is true and longs for.  

What would that look like?  What would our relationships look like?  What would our lives and our families look like if that was a reality?  Why should we give in and accept anemia?  

There are consequences to pay when our relationships are on life support.  Instead, through Christ, we can support others lives, who in turn support ours.

Are you feeling strong?  Keep an eye out for those who are weak and share your strength.
Are you feeling weak?  Ask for, and be willing to receive, love and help.