Blogging?

Blogging is an interesting past time to me.

I journal – as in I keep a tangible notebook of paper where I write my thoughts.  I let very few into those pages of my most intimate thoughts – and those few I let in rarely see inside all the pages – perhaps just a few select ones.

            People tell me that blogging is similar to journaling.  It may well be for them – but not for me.  Blogging for me is very public.  Expressing the overflow of my emotions, the passion of a heart-wrenching day, venting my concerns and frustrations are not something I necessarily want to share with everyone.  Rather I want to write them out – usually as a prayer although sometimes I think I am too ashamed to address my petty concerns to my God.

            But those thoughts are not the ones I want to share with the world.

            With the world I want to share my discoveries – the joys in my life; the people I love; the God I serve; inspirations, helpmeets, treasures I have found in His scripture.

            And blogging is a way of connecting anyone around the world with access to a computer and the internet (perhaps not deepest darkest Africa, although sometimes a small light can shine even there!).

            What a blessing is our technology – and how we tend to ignore it sometimes….

Journal Galore

My Hebreos teacher is an interesting man. Mr. Roeder is full of energy – and fun.
This semester he assigned a daily journal to our class. It did not necessarily have to be from the book of Hebreos (Hebrews – in Spanish), but it did need to be from the Bible and it did have to be a daily journal. Neither did it require no minimum entry length.
The class produced a wide variety of them – not just of notebooks but of styles. Some had more trouble (the boys usually – perhaps girls are just more used to keeping something like a journal).
But it has helped not only with our discipline in reading our Bible but also in our discipline of training our thoughts in English into thoughts in Spanish.
Journaling is something we are allowed to make our own – to write questions and thoughts, prayers and challenge. It has opened our minds, not only to a panorama of the Spanish language but also of God’s word.
It has made us sink our teeth into Spanish and into the text of God’s word – intertwining it into our own lives.
Why not include such a journal in my classroom? That’s what Erin Gruwell did in inner city Los Angeles – when no one else could or would teach those underprivileged teenagers.
Isn’t that my job as an educator – to challenge my students to incorporate what is taught in class into their lives – to allow them to develop their own personalities and to help them form morals, ethics, and respect for God and for people?