Words are an interesting thing, especially the written down kind.

Which is why I love a good conversation via blog.  Several people chiming in about what they think about a topic is pretty much healthy, save for “that guy” who seems to have a way of pissing everyone off by having no tact, class, or manners.  But sometimes even when everyone displays the politeness of Queen Elizabeth II, if they have the wit of Sir Winston Churchill, there’s going to be problems when it comes to the written word.  Something that was meant to be sarcastic comes across as jarring.  A word meant to be complimentary arrives to the reader’s eyes as a slap in the face, and all is not well in communicationville.

To insure tranquility while reading and commenting or instant messaging or Facebook chatting or whatever other modes of communication might be out there, specifically in matters of debate meant for a topical discourse, one must not right or read personally into their transcripts.  That is, before you attack or read “attack” (into personal matters opposed to topical matters) into what you’ve written or read – stop and think.  Keep the topic about the topic.

Then be aware that the person has the right to feel the way they do.  They don’t have the right necessarily to say what they want whenever they want, but they do have a right to feel a certain way.  Understanding why they feel that way is the key to a successful outcome in terms of conversation.  By the way, a successful outcome doesn’t always mean both parties agree, but can also mean they both don’t hate each other.

At times there are those who respond to this blog, and each time they respond they vehemently disagree with everything I say.  This is not always bad, but I can tell that they really don’t respect me as a person and writer.  They simply desire to antagonize.  I don’t mind disagreement, but I do mind disrespect.  One of the big reasons the internet works so well is its allowance for massive diversity of opinion, but respect for other individuals is an important reason why this flow of information will continue to flourish.

I suppose until I can no longer type I will be blogging and thinking and writing down, of which the response will be both good and bad, agreement and not so much, but I hope that in my circles of influence the two way or three way communications that take place can both be productive and tranquil.

And if you don’t like that you can…

I found three blogs today I’d like to introduce to you. They are all very different in nature, and actually, I’m not sure if one exists, but because they are all good people, I’m advocating it anyway, on the off chance it might help you connect with this guy. Each of these three blogs are run by former students of mine at Twin City Christian School, where I taught for a year in Leominster, Massachusetts.

Alisha Marklund – Alisha and her husband Paul work in youth ministry in New Jersey, and I’ve really enjoyed reading some of her posts. It’s a mix of family stuff and interesting things she’s found on the web.

Zak Normandin - Clearly this guy has found his niche and is dreaming big toward the business world and is using the internet as his chief employee. He has some really great ideas he’s presenting on his blog.

Matt Bell – This guy was born to preach, or at least to write “preachy things” over the information superhighway. I love reading his stuff, and am truly convinced God is using him (as I’ve always been convinced) to do something great for Him. His blog doesn’t seem to be working right now, but if you can ever read his stuff, it’s good.

Ladies and gentlemen, from the senior class of TCCS, ‘02, I give you 3 excellent blogs. If you’d like to be added to the links on th right side of my blog, shoot me an email or a comment, and I’ll read your stuff and let you know.

BTW, what blogs have you been reading recently?

One of a kind

Mike Burns, my friend and compadre from across the pond and beyond, is like a mountain man who likes to hang out in a mall.  A diverse fellow for sure, who can try to explain to you what a particular verse means is Scripture, and then offer you a torrential outpouring of verbal abuse like you haven’t had in your life time, all with a smile on his face.  This is why I like Mike – I dig the diversity, and the bit of the sacrilege he brings to the table.  I’m sure Jesus would have had hung out with him if He were here, so I will too.

Mike wrote the last comment of my post yesterday (up to this point) called, “Not that person anymore” where he said, “I mostly only read the comments (speaking of my blog), and not the post.”  Knowing Mike, this was meant to be a quick jab at me.  Mike claims (and certainly in some ways is right) to be “a friend who will help me with my ego.”  However, this particular jab was very much a compliment, whether it was intended or not.

I’m no genius like Garret or Jeffrey or the other engineers, doctors, and scientists God has blessed me to be around in this wonderful area of new England.  Nor do I claim to have a corner on God speaking to the masses in America or anywhere else.  But what I do bring to the table, Mike pointed out covertly.  I bring out an idea, let people process the idea and share their opinions, then connect with one another like they might not have done otherwise.

The geniuses are the ones commenting on these blog posts and sharing their opinions, and helping me to form my own through their relationship, both with this blog and face to face.  The real authors are the ones who follow up my posts with their insights, more times than not much better than my own.  The real innovaters are my friends who directly share their opinions, many time unwaveringly, and respond passionately to my quick thoughts or ideas.  the Daves, Ians, Katies, Brians, Dionnes, Darrens, and others of you who make this blog worth reading beyond my own thoughts.

The real geniuses are you.  So… thanks.

This week at Fellowship Holden, we’re going to be talking about the noise in our lives, and how it keeps us from hearing the message of Christ.  The noise is everywhere.  Sometimes it seems as though you can’t shut it out.  So let’s try to list all of the things that constitute noise in our lives.  I’ll start, then I’m going to need your help.

Music – This is a huge one for me.  I listen and listen and listen, until I can’t stay in silence any more.

Television – Gotta have my DVR!

Blogs – I suppose blogs are a visual representation of noise.

All right, your turn.  What’s the noise in your life?

I wanted to do two things in my last post of the week (ala Friday afternoon).

First, I want to point out some new sites I’ve linked to on my blog (the sidebar on your right if you’re viewing my actual site.  There are blogs or sites I’ve added in the last week:

Tom Hogsed – a pastor in Canton, Ohio and an all-around great guy.  We went to PCC at the same time.  He always has some interesting biblical insights to share.

Leah Hogsed – I’ve known Leah for a long, long time now.  She is married to Tom and she blogs now, and I think that’s cool.

Josh Gagnon – the pastor of a new church in New Hampshire, and a great guy with a passion to reach New England.

Matthew Legere – ministers at a new church in Framingham, MA.  We’re going to get together soon.  I just need to make a call.

Having said all that, I bid you a great weekend and leave you with this:

Here are some Blog posts I’ve enjoyed over the last few weeks.

Seth chats about failure.

Jake gives his fresh new music likes.  I trust him.

Pete shares this amazing truth/comic piece.

Chad hit me in the face with this quote.

Vince shared his small group philosophy and I liked it.

Mark Cuban is…well, Mark Cuban is a genius.

Brian is a genius too,and his friends, myself included, couldn’t wait to hear this news.

What are you reading these days?

On Ben Arments’s blog this morning, he announced a new blog from his friend, Barton Damer.  Bart is an amazing graphic designer and has been doing some really sweet stuff for churches all acros the country (and maybe even the world.
Name drop ahead – drive slowly:  One cool thing for me is that Bart and I have a history.  You see, we attended the same college/military school and at one point took leadership of our collegian (christian college speak for “Fraternity”).
So, Bart, this picture is for you.

Welcome to the blog world!

I love the blog world.
I held the 2008 Bloggle awards recently here at martyholman.com, and while
I was checking out the nominees for the award “Best Blog Post”, I began
searching through all my favorite posts over the last 6 months.  Google
Reader makes this easy by allowing me to star my favorite posts as I read them.
One thing I learned however is how much of the content of my favorite posts were not original
to the author of the post.
And by the end of looking through my 300 starred posts, I narrowed them down
to about 30 which I thought were absolutely amazing.
But as I scrolled through the 30, I realized that 20 of them were not actually
written by the author, but simply used (no doubt with permission) from another post.
Now I’m glad that this is being done, as it allows me to read posts that I otherwise
would have never read, but it also makes me wonder…

Who’s original?

Don MIller prays at the DNC

Ilove the web 2.0! 

This morning I was catching up on my blogs (I had about 120 I had to scroll through), and I found something very profound.  And this time, it wasn’t in Seth Godin’s blog.  If you haven’t read his blog, and you’re into Marketing even on a marginal level, go and read it right now.  Everything he writes is profound.

Anyway, back to my point.  This morning I was reading the blog of my new friend (of the last year or so) Eric.  Eric is a web developer amongst other things and has taught me a lot through the mediums of conversations and blogging about web 2.0.  One of the things Eric is truly passionate about is politics.  Eric likes democrats.

In his latest post, Eric gives a fairly even-handed review of his thoughts on McCain’s choice for running mate, and connects to the site of my best friend from high school (this has been several years by the way) Clay, who runs the site, “Reluctant Republicans”.  Clay is also truly passionate about politics.
Clay likes republicans.

As a friend of both of them, I can appreciate their thoughts on this subject and read each and every post on the subject fairly thoroughly.  But the point of this post is once again connection.
At no point in my life has Clay and Eric ever even been in the same state at the same time that I know, except for maybe this summer when Clay and his family took a vacation to NYC, but here they are, even in a subtle way, connecting their thoughts so that viewers on their blogs can see where they are both coming from. Not to mention they both have impacted my life in several ways,

I come from the end of an age where hearing from someone who differed from you was betrayal, and now its the best way to come to a conclusion.  So thank you to my friends who offer two different sides of a very important subject these days.  Also thank you to Don Miller, author of “Blue Like Jazz”, for this post in his new blog.

And thank you to you…for reading and sharing your thoughts.

Here are some more “Little nuggets” just for you:

I’m starting a new 5 week series that is focused on Proverbs called “Treasures”.  This week, I’m speaking from Proverbs 1:1-7.

These two guys, Jay and Chris, are brothers.  I know one better than the other, but I’m pretty sure they’re both worth the read when they actually do blog!  “Brothers, this is an encouragement that your thoughts should not be stuck in your head, but free for all to partake.”

Here is a book written by brothers, and specifically for teenagers that seems pretty amazing.

I am now a part of the Triiibe.

I was sad to hear about this.

Tomorrow I’m going to share what I decided to do with my $5 I received from this event.

Now since this is an online community of people, would you kindly share with me a little nugget of info/link that I might not know?

Thank you.