Defining My Focus

I started this blog several years back. I had just learned about blogs and since I enjoyed reading them and I have a love/hate relationship with writing, I decided to start one. It was simply going to be an online journal of what God was doing in my life. So I came up with a name, signed up for a Blogger account and in a few minutes hours I had my very own blog.


For those wondering, the name of this blog came from a singing duo I once had with a friend. We would go to different churches, nursing homes and events and sing. Really, we would go anywhere anyone asked us to go. In fact, we once sang in a bait and tackle shop! We called ourselves Between Two Thieves because we wanted all focus and praise to go to the One who died between the two thieves.

Anyway, I published a few post here and there when I felt "inspired" and didn't really pay attention to traffic. Months would go by between post and even when I did post, it was just a random blurb about something. I finally just quit with it and went on to something else. But the desire to have a blog would not go away. So this March (2012) I decided to resurrect this blog and give it another go.

I am learning the key to having a blog: focus. So in this post I want to define my focus, or the purpose this blog exists. Are you ready? Drum roll, please...

Practical Theology.

Huh?

Let me be more specific. One of my passions is theology (the study of God). I read and study a lot about big theological ideas categorized by terms such as soteriology, eschatology, ecclesiology and a bunch of other "ologies" that I probably don't even pronounce correctly. Of course I want to know God more through studying theology, but what really motivates me is that I want to learn and experience how theology plays out in real life. I love to think about "big" or "deep" ideas, but I also tend to be very practical. Ultimately, I want to know how these deep theological ideas (think "abstract" or "theory") translate to everyday life (think "concrete" or "application") and I want to share what I find out with anybody who cares to know .

Disclaimer #1: I'm no theologian in the professional or academic sense. I'm simply a man whose life has been completely turned upside down by the mind-blowing message of the Gospel and now, in striving to walk with my Lord daily, I want to know the "how's" and "why's." I'm also no English professor. I attempt to use proper spelling and grammar, but my main goal is to effectively communicate with you, the average reader, so I try to write the way I would talk if we were having a conversation. And seeing as how I'm from south Georgia (the land of a million rednecks (no offense if you are one cuz I are one too!)), that may slip into my writing from time to time. While I'll always give credit to whom it is deserved, I'll leave the MLA or APA writing standards to the guys (whom I appreciate very much) with more degrees than children.

Disclaimer #2: I believe the Bible to be the inerrant, infallible, unchangeable, eternally relevant Word of God. I believe it is God-breathed, that every jot and tittle is true and I read it in the literal sense. It is the book I have chosen to build my life upon and all my eggs are in this one basket. If it turns out to be false (which it won't), I'm in deep trouble because I'll not trust anything that contradicts what it says. I study Biblical hermeneutics, the science of interpreting the Bible, because I want to interpret the Bible accurately. I'm extremely careful to have my thoughts shaped by the Scriptures (called "exegesis") rather than to try to shape the Scriptures by my thoughts (called "eisegesis").

So there it is. The focus of this blog is to share my observations, ponderings, and  applications on the topic of practical theology and effectively communicate it with the rest of the non-academia among us. I hope we both will benefit from it and I encourage you to join in via the "Comments" section of each post. I will read every question, comment, and complaint, and while I may not respond to each, I value the exchange of ideas. Just know that NO inflammatory, personally offensive or profane language will be published. Soli Deo Gloria!