Here I Am, and Here's Why

Hello faithful reader(s). It seems that I have a blog again. And here's why: 1) I'm sitting around at home all day with not much to do. 2) Several of my friends have gotten blogs going recently (though for much more noble purposes), and I feel that I should join in. 3) I was talking to a guy last week about my days on the high school newspaper, which reminded me that I like to write, which reminded me that writing might be a productive thing to do with my time.

Here's a little update on myself for those of you who don't know. I'll be a junior at Ozark Christian College this fall. This summer, I am on Ozark's camp teams, so I basically travel all over the place with three other people and work at church camps. We've done four camps so far, and they've been awesome. Tomorrow we head out for Oregon and Washington, where we'll be for the next month for three camps and a CIY.

In our training for camp teams last semester, we had to try to figure out our personality colors. I don't put a ton of stock in such things. However, I discovered that my personality color is green, which means that I'm apparently supposed to think a lot. Since then, I have developed into a hermit who locks himself up for hours, alone with his many thoughts. And now I have decided to share those thoughts with the world. Some of them may be serious. Most probably won't be. Writing will likely be sparse, until it eventually fizzles out in mid-October. We'll see.

But here's my thought for now. I've been thinking about the purpose behind blogs. Or behind writing thoughts down in general. I remember for a while in high school, a bunch of us started blogs, mostly just for laughs. But maybe it can be something a little more than that. Something that has hit me recently is the power that written words hold, and the opportunity that we all have to grow and mature because of the thoughts that others have put down on paper (or on a computer screen). I think all forms of communication can have great influence, but written words hold a special place.

From my days of working at Blockbuster, I know that New Releases are what sell. There could be an incredible movie that shakes society for a time, and it'll rent like hotcakes for about three weeks. Then, people stop wanting to watch it, and the store is stuck with 100 copies of a movie that no one wants anymore. A movie's influence is generally shortlived for the sake of the next big hit. Similarly, a song may be at the top of the charts for a couple months, but then people forget about it until it shows up on an episode of "I Love the 90's" on VH1. Television shows are lucky to make it past the third season. But for whatever reason, the influence of written words tends to last a little longer. Looking throughout history, books have had incredible impact on the shape society takes. Written words change the world.

Not that anything I write on here will change the world. It probably won't even change anything you do with your day. But I just think that there is great value in finding out what others have to say. Just think about how the world might be a little better if people spent a little less time playing Rockband and a little more reading and benefiting from the wisdom of others. Donald Miller sums up what I think pretty well in "To Own a Dragon" when he writes, "The truth I've learned about life is you can't do it on your own. People don't do well independently. One generation passes wisdom on to the next, wisdom about girls and faith and punctuation. And we won't be as good a person if we don't receive it." (Sidenote: the title of my blog is from the same book. Read it and anything else Miller has written.)

So that's about it for now. I'll try to do better next time. I like comments, by the way. So if you're thinking, "Hooray David! Keep it up, champ!" then let me know, so that I know I'm not wasting my time. Or if you're like "Man, this guy sucks. He needs to stop writing before I come steal his internet cable" then let me know, because I like my internet cable.