internet

Too Much Information

Frank

You don’t hear that too much anymore, do you? TMI- too much information. Maybe it’s due to the rise of social media, where we can read in an instant about what our friends had for breakfast or see the latest picture of their cat.

Blogging has become like that too. Everybody has one. A couple of weeks ago I was hanging out with a friend who is a literary agent. He said, “Five years ago, if you had a blog that was considered a big deal- a built-in platform with a following. Now, you’re expected to have a blog- so you need to work that much harder to stand out.”

That’s certainly one problem. But another relates to what I wrote about last time– too many blogs means too many websites to visit to read.

The long weekend afforded me time to go through my blog subscriptions. (And the fact that Google Reader is going away added extra motivation.) I deleted many that haven’t been updated in a year, and deleted others that I just don’t get around to reading. Even then, when all was said and done, I am still subscribed to 88 blogs. I don’t have a traditional “blog roll” on this site because it would just be too long. (And yes, of those 88 there are probably only a dozen that I visit regularly; but still.)

Another problem with this, besides being a complete time-suck and distraction, is that I recognize I cannot cover every subject, nor do I know everything (shocker, I know) so I read a lot with the intention of sharing a lot with my readers. That’s why I have my Facebook page (/shameless plug), to share not just my posts, but what others are writing about on subjects near and dear to my heart and my convictions.

But I often wonder, with hundreds of blogs out there covering the same ground as I am, if I’m just another voice in the din? On the other hand, as I was going through my blog subscriptions I was surprised how many blogs folded up shop or only submitted a couple of posts before running out of steam. This is hard and time-consuming and it’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this for nearly seven years. So why do I do it? Because I don’t believe there is such a thing as too much information. Sure, there may be not enough time or not enough resources, but when it comes to an infinite God it is impossible to write too much. As a wrote in a post a couple of years ago:

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole [Internet] would not have room for the [blogs] that would be written.” (John 21:25)

Trailblazer

Frank

What inspires you? I don’t mean encourages, or edifies, I mean honest to goodness “God breathed,” (2 Timothy 3:16) in-spirit moving of the Holy Spirit in you. Maybe it’s a psalm, hymn, or spiritual song (Ephesians 5:19), maybe it’s a favorite verse in the Bible, maybe it’s a friend, a book, or a movie. Maybe it’s the stories of those who came before, who blazed God fearing, Jesus-led trails.

Monday, April 5th, Michael Spencer, aka the Internet Monk, passed away after a long battle with cancer. A little more than a year ago, Father Richard John Neuhaus, author at the blog First Things passed away. I can honestly say that without the inspiration from these two men of God, I would not be blogging today. I was shocked to read that the imonk started blogging 10 years ago. These two saw the opportunities of the Internet to spread the Gospel and shaped the online Christian landscape. From Father Neuhaus, I was inspired as he tackled issues of interest to me. From Michael, he introduced a new way to reach the masses without preaching down to them using this new-fangled interweb thingy. I regret not following them as closely once I set out on my own blog.

The early Christian blogosphere, including Get Religion and Blogs4God soon grew to include the Thinklings and Boar’s Head Tavern, Stuff Christians Like, Purgatorio, and JesusNeedsNewPR. Most recently, Peter Pollock’s and Bridget Chumbley’s Blog Carnival has been a network of diverse Christian blogs that all aspire to encourage applying the Word of God through the Internet. Yesterday’s topic, Gentleness, drew 39 posts. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of Christian blogs. I will never have time to find them all, but I am grateful for the inspiration the ones I do read bring to me.

Back to imonk for a moment. Another blogger commented a few years ago that America is due for another Great Awakening and that it would likely come through the power of the Internet. I couldn’t agree more and I believe the legacy that Michael Spencer leaves behind started the ball rolling that direction. I pray his legacy continues throughout the Christian blogosphere and through the hearts and souls of readers everywhere. Michael was too young. He didn’t live to see the next Great Awakening. But he lived to see it begun.

Trailblazer

Frank

What inspires you? I don’t mean encourages, or edifies, I mean honest to goodness “God breathed,” (2 Timothy 3:16) in-spirit moving of the Holy Spirit in you. Maybe it’s a psalm, hymn, or spiritual song (Ephesians 5:19), maybe it’s a favorite verse in the Bible, maybe it’s a friend, a book, or a movie. Maybe it’s the stories of those who came before, who blazed God fearing, Jesus-led trails.

Monday, April 5th, Michael Spencer, aka the Internet Monk, passed away after a long battle with cancer. A little more than a year ago, Father Richard John Neuhaus, author at the blog First Things passed away. I can honestly say that without the inspiration from these two men of God, I would not be blogging today. I was shocked to read that the imonk started blogging 10 years ago. These two saw the opportunities of the Internet to spread the Gospel and shaped the online Christian landscape. From Father Neuhaus, I was inspired as he tackled issues of interest to me. From Michael, he introduced a new way to reach the masses without preaching down to them using this new-fangled interweb thingy. I regret not following them as closely once I set out on my own blog.

The early Christian blogosphere, including Get Religion and Blogs4God soon grew to include the Thinklings and Boar’s Head Tavern, Stuff Christians Like, Purgatorio, and JesusNeedsNewPR. Most recently, Peter Pollock’s and Bridget Chumbley’s Blog Carnival has been a network of diverse Christian blogs that all aspire to encourage applying the Word of God through the Internet. Yesterday’s topic, Gentleness, drew 39 posts. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of Christian blogs. I will never have time to find them all, but I am grateful for the inspiration the ones I do read bring to me.

Back to imonk for a moment. Another blogger commented a few years ago that America is due for another Great Awakening and that it would likely come through the power of the Internet. I couldn’t agree more and I believe the legacy that Michael Spencer leaves behind started the ball rolling that direction. I pray his legacy continues throughout the Christian blogosphere and through the hearts and souls of readers everywhere. Michael was too young. He didn’t live to see the next Great Awakening. But he lived to see it begun.